Lewis Hamilton speaking with the media during the Singapore Grand Prix - Photo: RacePictures.

F1 LIVE | Hamilton's McLaren advice, Verstappen dismisses team fine

08:00, 25 Oct

byLuke-John Buckle

Hello and welcome to F1 LIVE, GPblog's daily live blog, where you'll learn about the most interesting F1 stories of Saturday, 25 October 2025.

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Hamilton gives McLaren advice on Verstappen fight

Lewis Hamilton has told McLaren that one of the key factors in getting the better of Max Verstappen in a title fight in to be uncompromising.

Verstappen has closed the gap to the McLaren drivers over the past few races, and is now just 40 points off the pace.

Oscar Piastri is leading the world championship but has made errors and lacked pace over the past few events.

Lando Norris sits in second place while Verstappen relentlessly closes down the advantage Piastri is holding.

Hamilton explained that McLaren need to block out any external noise and be as consistent as possible.

The seven-time world champion said: "They have won other championships in other categories. I'm not one to really want to give advice to them, but in that scenario, it's challenging when you're in the team. The pressure is high.

"It's definitely a time where you really have to put your blinkers up, you have to block absolutely everything from the outside, all this because there's so much coming in, positive and negative.

"Also you really have to be cut-throat. That's what Max is, he's going to take this from them if they don't do the same.

"They've got to be pushing and you have got to dig deep to, firstly, be able to hold off someone like Max and in the car that he's in at the moment.

"But, also, for either of them to come out ahead you know consistency is key and you've seen that from Max in the last few races."

Lewis Hamilton speaking to the media in Baku - Photo: Race Pictures

Verstappen isn't overly concerned about Red Bull's grid tape fine

Red Bull were fined after the United States Grand Prix as a team member tried to remove some tape next to Norris' grid box.

The Red Bull team was fined 50,000 euros, with half suspended, for overstepping safety procedures ahead of the event.

Verstappen explained he felt the penalty was easy to understand: "There's a yellow line in the grid box, you look at that one, so you just park your car.

"It doesn't matter where you start, really. But some people have other practices, and I get that. In Austin, it took a bit longer for whatever reason for the gate to close.

"If it was instructed or not in the right way to stay out of it. I think it's quite clear how the stewards explained it."So I think that it's quite understandable that you get fined for that."

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