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Lewis Hamilton has alerted McLaren’s title contenders, Piastri and Lando Norris, regarding Max Verstappen’s “uncompromising” character as the three racers enter the concluding rounds of the championship.

Piastri now holds the lead in the championship by a 14-point margin from Norris, while the Red Bull star sits 40 points off the lead on the back of a run of three victories and one second in recent events.

The Mercedes veteran, who fought a heated title fight with his rival Verstappen in the 2021 season, stated: “In such a situation it’s tough, expectations are immense. At this point you must put your blinkers up and block everything from external sources.

“It’s necessary to be cut-throat and that is what Max behaves, he intends to take this away from them unless they match his intensity.

“You have to dig deep to resist someone like Max and the car he is in. Moreover for either of them to secure the title, reliability matters most, and this has been evident with Verstappen in the last few races.”

The seven-time champion noted that Max had the easiest job as the driver in pursuit. Verstappen had been 104 points adrift behind Piastri post the Zandvoort race at the end of August.

“There are three highly skilled competitors and I can't predict how they will perform,” added Hamilton.

“Max has won it four times so he knows the experience and playing the chaser is far simpler than being the defender.

“As the frontrunner and another driver is gaining, that creates pressure rather than if you're chasing and there’s no pressure. As the championship leader all is on the line.”

Russell, who won Singapore in the previous rounds, remarked: “The McLaren drivers have the fastest car so the title is in their hands. But Max and Red Bull are doing excellent work so they cannot be ruled out.

“There were indications of impressive performance initially but their form varied, but currently consistently they are excelling.”

Equal Opportunity at McLaren

The McLaren drivers enter the season’s end with no team orders between themselves and with no internal team rules affecting them – aside from avoiding collisions with each other.

Norris was subject to undefined “repercussions” after colliding with his teammate when securing third place from his teammate on the opening lap in the Singapore GP.

After the incident involving both drivers at the start of the sprint at Austin last weekend, the team has lifted these.

“There is a degree of responsibility from my side in the sprint and we are starting this weekend within a clean slate for both of us, simply heading out and competing,” said Piastri.

The McLaren rookie, the winner of Zandvoort, has seen his advantage shrink after losing to Norris in the last four events, but he noted he had also been surprised Max had entered the title battle in such a short time.

“The performance Verstappen has shown since Monza has surprised many,” he explained.

“There were moments earlier in the season but there were also significant drops. Everyone is aware Red Bull has been applying various improvements at their car trying to improve it but Verstappen has arrived to the fight quicker than I expected.”

Yet, upon being questioned if he had concerns regarding Max, Piastri responded: “This isn’t what I concentrate on. Verstappen has shown steady and competitive lately but it offers no advantage in being concerned with or focusing on that.

“What will assist me win the championship is optimize performance from my driving, the car, McLaren. Verstappen is there, he’s contending but finally it doesn't change the way I handle my driving.”

Norris stated: “Max displayed excellent results the last month or so. Red Bull has been delivering a higher level than McLaren.

“Verstappen has secured a good amount of races and he’s a top driver. It would be unwise if you didn't acknowledge Verstappen’s potential.

“Right now, Red Bull is performing stronger, on several occasions they were faster. Yet, we can still succeed. McLaren possesses the quicker machine in the final rounds and we just have to make use of that.”

Verstappen said: “Obviously our form has been excellent, certainly enjoying it a lot more in this way and we will try to continue this streak forward. We are aware we need to be perfect until the finish to have a chance, but we just try to optimize every aspect and find our position.”

Pit Lane Incident ‘Entertaining’

Red Bull were penalized a fine after the Austin race, after one of their team members was present on the starting grid past the allowed time while trying to take off the markings McLaren placed in the garage area to guide Norris position his car accurately.

Norris remarked he considered the incident “quite funny, notably as I never used the guide, which added to the humor”.

Norris continued: “I used it for back up. I didn't need to use it in Austin. We already knew about their actions. {They tried to take tape off