Lewis Hamilton made a cheeky joke at Max Verstappen’s expense at the Belgian Grand Prix after enviously watching the Red Bull star clinch his eight successive victory at Spa. The Mercedes driver finished fourth in Sunday’s race and was only able to enjoy being in front of the championship leader for a few laps before he was passed, with Verstappen surging home to clinch another impressive victory.
The 38-year-old could only watch on in envy as Verstappen raced past him with a daring move into Les Combes after closing in with DRS on lap six.
Verstappen ended up winning the race with a gap of 22.4 seconds to his team-mate Sergio Perez, who he overtook on lap 20. And the sheer dominance Verstappen enjoyed in comparison to the rest of the pack proves he is in a league of his own with an eight successive victory.
When asked in his post-race interview if Verstappen is having it too easy at the front, Hamilton joked: “He’s having a smoke and a pancake.”
The reference bizarrely appears to originate from the 2002 ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember’ film, when Goldmember asks Austin Powers if he would like ‘a smoke and a pancake’.
The phrase can also relate to smoking marijuana and feeling the sensation of starving hunger, although it is very unlikely Hamilton had either of those topics in his mind when he made the comment.
But the insinuation that things are far too easy for the Dutchman is not lost on the 103-time race winner, who is still yet to win a race since Saudi Arabia in 2021 – a run that stretches back 34 races.
After taking fourth place in Belgium, Hamilton was able to close the gap to Fernando Alonso to just one point in the Drivers’ Standings.
But there is a feeling he would much rather be closer to his 2021 title rival Verstappen, who with 314 points now has a 126-point advantage over the Briton.
“It was kind of a non-eventful race,” he told Sky Sports F1. “There wasn’t much going on and I wasn’t able to keep up with the cars ahead of me. “I struggled at the beginning, the rear end is our biggest issue and we had big bouncing this weekend so we were back to the bouncing like we had last year.
“At the end I was keeping the Ferrari within a few seconds but I couldn’t get any closer to battle and to get the fastest lap at the end, it was nice to have the gap to the car behind. The last lap was decent.”
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