This topic is locked
Three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet believes Max Verstappen would “smash” Lewis Hamilton if he were driving alongside him at Mercedes.
Piquet also questioned the ability of Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas, saying: “It’s not that Hamilton isn’t good. But he has an inferior driver by his side and the previous one [Nico Rosberg] was even worse.”
Piquet Sr said: “First of all, we have to consider that F1 is a category with different cars, so it’s very difficult to make a direct comparison between two drivers if they are not on the same team. But if Max were driving for Mercedes, I’m sure that he would smash Hamilton. Max is more aggressive. He may make mistakes more frequently due to this aggressiveness, but in my opinion he’s better than Hamilton.
"Things are too easy for Hamilton to win it all with Bottas by his side as a second driver.”
Piquet compared the scenario that Hamilton faces in F1 to that which he went through at Williams in the 1980s. “It’s a little bit like Mansell and myself in Williams, with the other drivers far behind,” he explained. “I won the 1987 championship, and I wasn’t driving like before, because I had the accident at the beginning of the year and had field depth problems. But I won that championship, with a bit of luck. I should have won in 1986, but won in 1987. But it was so easy. The car was far better than the others. And Mercedes is far better than the others for the past years."
