Verstappen takes aim at 'jealous' Hamilton over teammate accusation

F1 championship leader Max Verstappen has accused Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of 'jealousy' after the Briton's jibe over intra-team competition at Red Bull.

Verstappen is on the verge of breaking the F1 record for most consecutive wins, with a 10th on the cards should he overhaul Ferrari's Carlos Sainz at the Italian Grand Prix

The seven-time champion suggested that the Dutchman's current feats were not unprecedented given the dominant periods enjoyed by himself, Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher this century before claiming that the teammates Verstappen has been paired with have provided less competition than those Hamilton has faced across his career.

'Hard time dealing with losing'

Speaking to Dutch media including RacingNews365, Verstappen said: "Maybe he's a little jealous of my current success.

"This kind of statement... he possibly thinks he's winning something with that, but it makes no difference to me.

"I think Mercedes have a very hard time dealing with losing, after all these years of winning so much.

"At some point, you have to be realistic and then you have to be able to appreciate what other teams are doing. We did the same when they were dominant and we also said, 'We have to work harder because we are not good enough'."

"You can keep shouting and screaming that what we do is not that special... you just have to deal with yourself."