Max Verstappen happy to renew bitter Lewis Hamilton rivalry with Mercedes improving

Max Verstappen refused to rule out the possibility of reigniting his intense rivalry with Lewis Hamilton if Mercedes continue to improve this season.

The championship battle last year turned into all-out war as a series of on-track incidents marred what was still a thrilling title race. Any relationship that existed between the two was lost – as was the respect both privately and in public.

Things have not been so intense so far this year, with Mercedes unable to touch Red Bull for car performance. It has meant that Verstappen has not yet had to worry about Hamilton having a chance of beating him to race wins.

But that might change between now and the end of the year, and Red Bull know it. Mercedes have been making impressive strides in their quest to close the gap to the top teams, and look to currently be in their strongest position of the season.

Hamilton's podium at Silverstone was possible the first strong result of the year earned purely off the performance of his car – previous successes had all come at the expense of Red Bull or Ferrari drivers suffering reliability issues or crashing. Some have tipped the Silver Arrows to be in contention for race wins before the end of the current campaign.

With that in mind, Verstappen is wary that things could get heated once again. "Last year's conflict was not necessarily between the drivers but more between the teams," he told German TV channel Servus. "We are, of course, not fighting with Mercedes at the moment.

"I think it will be different if we fight each other again. Maybe at the end of the season. We'll see. [Hamilton and I] have a lot of respect for each other. If someone does well, you can of course just say that to each other."

Commenting on Mercedes'