>I liked how Hamilton shut down the interviewer when she wanted
>to talk about what Alonso said. He didn't want to get into the
>back and forth and just wanted to focus on his error with the
>turn. Still unfortunate that Hamilton didn't recognize that
>Alonso was ahead of him in the turn and thus made his
>judgement there way off. And even worse, he probably didn't
>need to squeeze out that advantage taking the inside of hte
>turn would have gave him since he is such a masterful driver.
>Oh well, I guess the man is human afterall. Like you alluded
>to with the caution car, it hurts even more that Hamilton's
>error gave Max the added advantage of lowering his distance
>from first place.
>
>I just started to watch F1 last year, so pardon my ignorance,
>but it seems are if Max isn't as much of a hot head compared
>to when I heard him rage out over the radio last season.
>However you feel about the man, you have to give him his props
>on how wall he is racing, the Red Bull car and mechanics being
>an advantage or not.

Max got the call up from Toro Rosso (RB's sister team) back in 2016. He has always been super quick, but he has also always been SUPER aggressive on the track. His early stints were littered with accidents as he tried to storm through and bully other drivers around the corners and expect them to give him the place. With time and maturity the accidents went down, but Max's aggressive style is a known quantity across all the teams. It was just heightened in the championship race against Hamilton last year, which was the first time RB had a legitimate shot at actually winning.

I think his persona probably stems from three things. First, Max naturally gives off an IDGAF attitude, which to some degree you have to have when you're racing. Every driver has some sense of entitlement, but with Max it can seem oversized at times. Second, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko champion his attitude and defend Max against anybody, even if it means slandering other drivers and/or teams (the vitriol between RB/Horner and Petronas/Wolfe was at an all time high last year, but really was par for the course for RB, as they did the same when they were fighting to get out of 3rd place from Ferrari. But again, everything is heightened with the championship). Third, Max is demonstrably faster than any teammate that they have put beside him, either because he's got more talent (Albon, Gasley) the car is better suited to his style (Perez) or the team is all in on him moreso than their other driver (Danny Ric).

For the record, I do like Max. Always have, partially because he's stupendously fast and was out the gate. But I'm also a Hamilton fan, and the way the championship was decided left a terrible taste in everyone's mouth (except maybe Horner). Had he beat Hamilton straight up in Abu Dhabi, fine. But But that wasn't the case, and I'm not going back down that road. Max was always going to win a 'chip, and deservedly so. Assuming this year plays out like it seems, he deserves it. Good for him. His first one though? I can't say he didn't deserve it, as there were 20 races before the last one, and he won enough of those, but I don't like it and never will.

Besides, every league needs a Chip Hicks, and Horner and co. seem to revel in playing the heel, so there's that.