Verstappen raced Hamilton differently to 'knock him off his throne' - Chandhok

Verstappen stormed to a dominant second world title in 2022, winning 15 of the 22 races.

Despite enjoying a record-breaking season, he didn’t have it all his own way, particularly in the first half of the year as Ferrari were incredibly competitive in the hands of Charles Leclerc.

While Verstappen did not have a direct title rival like he did with Hamilton in 2021, he did go up against Leclerc, George Russell and Carlos Sainz on a number of occasions.

During Verstappen’s various battles with the aforementioned trio, the duels were often hard but fair, unlike his previous tussles with Hamilton.

Verstsappen and Hamilton have a long history of incidents, stretching back to the start of 2021.

The pair collided during the early stages of this year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix - an incident that arguably cost Hamilton the win.

Chandhok - who is a pundit for Sky Sports F1 - believes Verstappen had to “assert himself” against Hamilton, who had dominated the sport prior to the Dutchman’s triumph last year.

"Lewis is the king of the castle and he has been this generation," Chandhok said. "Max felt that he had to assert himself against Lewis, knock him off his throne.

"Whereas he sees Charles [Leclerc], George [Russell], Carlos [Sainz] as his peers and that's why he races them differently."