Lewis Hamilton Speaks About Max Verstappen's Achievements and Teammates - 2023 Italian GP Interview

Nice to see Hamilton including Kimi with the likes of Schumacher, Alonso and Vettel. Kimi "only" has one world title, but he was one of the best drivers in the 2000's. Kimi's statistics aren't as good as those other champions, but that just means that he isn't a stat merchant and proved his worth on track and not through Wikipedia. Kimi is very under appreciated by the media and the fans, because his final stint at Ferrari was underwhelming and his Alfa days were mid, but it's very nice to see him get praised by the most successful driver of all time.

I think Verstappen's 2023 is what 2002 and 2004 were for Schumacher. One could also say Raikkonen would have had a very similiar year in 2005 had he not had issues in 10 or 9 races out of 19 during that year. Obviously all these mentioned drivers (who are champions) are generational talents in terms of car handling and putting in exceptional lap times. Although I have to say Verstappen just doesn't have the same sense of surgical precision and awareness in wheel-to-wheel racing as Raikkonen did. Verstappen's desperate lunges and divebombs, not to mention his disregard to clean and fair racing definitely lower his "stock" as a competitor. Verstappen's racing has nearly always looked reckless and almost malicious towards his competition. So I can see why Hamilton is not exactly impressed by Verstappen. Schumacher did similiar things during the first half of his career and they definitely tarnish his reputation. Alonso also has played these games in and out of the track for over 20 years now. So if you're somebody who values integrity of character, it can be difficult to appreciate some of these drivers.

He's not wrong. Lewis had to beat 3 WDC in equal machinery. The only "competitive" teammate Max had was Daniel .

Hamilton is right. Lewis himself had to compete with Rosberg, Button and Alonso on the same car, three excellent driver and three world champions. Verstappen is cruising with butlers in the same team.

It's funny how people are suprirsed about Hamilton mentioning Kimi but he already said several times that he was a big fan of Kimi on his early days, like many of us were, because of his agressive, quick and clean as hell driving. He always respected Raikkonen and always showed it, and i'm saying this not being a Lewis fan at all. None the less, he's right about Max teammates (and i'm a big fan of Max driving skills)

Still can't stand to mention the one team mate who beat him to a championship 🤣🤣

Current grid is nothing like back in the day either.

Max not having a competitive teammate is spot on

Max not having a good teammate will always jot marks down for me with him. I seriously don't understand why drivers who have better teammates aren't commended more. I will always rate drivers and champions like Prost or Lewis who come against harder world champion teammates or rivals more than ones who have Perez, Gasly, Albon as teammate week in week out and an ageing Hamilton as a rival.

"When Kimi was driving". Absolutely spot on Lewis. Max Verstappen wouldn't be able to get anywhere near a peak Kimi Raikkonen. Especially in the McLaren years. Game over. Would have included Mika Hakkinen too.

Why he feels the need to commend everyone on the Red Bull team except Max, then say he’s had to race people and Max hasn’t is beyond me

wheres the conclusion?

I get what he's saying about tough teammates but today's drivers are more loyal to teams in modern F1, for example Alonso moved from Renault to McLaren for a new challenge, same with button from brawn to mcl, same with Lewis from mcl to merc. All 3 of the teammates he had were Alonso, Button and Rosberg Now, the young talented drivers on the grid are Leclerc Norris and Russell & they are all loyal to their teams that's why Max is easing the competition.

Really missing your "the day Max should've been banned" video, about his tactics against Raikkonen in Belgium, right about now

Really disagree with what Hamilton said tbh, certainly what he's implying

Not surprising considering that Max never had competition for years. People just look at Max, see how many WDC or wins he has and go "He is the real goat". But the ones that look beyond that simplistic mentality and dive deeper can see why he isnt the goat everybody else thinks he is. Which isnt to say that he is a bad driver, thats not what i am saying. But if you keep winning because you dont have competition (i am also not saying that this is Max's fault alone), then its hard to be impressed about it and that is Hamilton's point. Looking back, Räikkönen, Schumacher, Alonso, Vettel or even Hamilton himself had to fight for many wins and WDCs because the competition was fierce and those were high caliber drivers that had to prove themselves against other high caliber drivers. Even the ones that were never champions because those were giving the champions a good run for their money. Precise driving, respect for the other drivers on the track, wheel to wheel battles, car handling, etc were much more the norm back then, especially coming from the absolute talents (like Räikkönen). Max simply lacks a lot of that.

I do respect Lewis Hamilton when he mentions Sebastian Vettel because I feel Sebastian Vettel was underappreciate by many driver. I still respect your opinion when you said Kimi Raikkonen was better than Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton forgot to say when “I” was winning 🤣