Broncos Called A ‘Max Verstappen’ Audible Despite The Team Being Partially Owned By Lewis Hamilton

The Denver Broncos called a somewhat odd audible en route to a 21-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. It involved the name of a Formula 1 champion.

No, not the one who is a part owner of the Denver Broncos.

With under a minute to go before halftime, Broncos QB Russell Wilson could be heard yelling, "Max Verstappen."

I was watching the game when that happened, but I'll admit, I wasn't sure what I had heard. I was running on about 4 hours of sleep after staying up to watch the Las Vegas Grand Prix, so I thought I had reached the point of exhaustion where I was hearing F1 names and terms where they didn't exist.

So, I checked with my girlfriend who was also sitting there too. She was much better rested than I, and she heard them shout out the 3-time World Champion too.

How Did The Broncos Go With Max Verstappen And Not Lewis Hamilton

It would be one of those moments that makes you laugh by airing a puff of air through your nose and going, "Hmph..." but it was made a bit more interesting that it was the Broncos who did it.

That's because one member of the Broncos ownership group is 7-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton. I don't need to remind racing fans that while things have cooled a bit, Verstappen and Hamilton once had one of the most heated title battles in sports history. It was as nasty as it gets. Moreover, the race — and the season — ended in wildly controversial fashion on the final lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Did no one in the organization think of this? Nobody suggested maybe swapping the "Max Verstappen" audible to a "Lewis Hamilton" one? Was there not one soul who remembered that controversial finish?

I can't believe it. Any other team could have done this and it wouldn't matter. What are the chances that the Lewis Hamilton co-owned team would go with a Verstappen audible?

Actually, I guess the chances are 1-32...

Still...

However, maybe they'll catch that before they do it again.

If you see the team run a similar audible next week and it's signaled by "Lewis Hamilton!" then you'll know someone caught the "misstep."

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.