Max Verstappen’s title rivals – together with Lewis Hamilton – have “obtrusive flaws”, it has been claimed.
Hamilton’s change from Mercedes to Ferrari provides a brand new dimension to the F1 2025 drivers’ title battle, as Verstappen goals for a fifth in a row.
However Crimson Bull have slipped behind McLaren within the improvement warfare for F1’s quickest automotive so Lando Norris might even have his say.
Sky Sports activities’ Martin Brundle claimed Hamilton, even a number of % wanting perfection on account of age, might nonetheless battle on the entrance which our specialists agree with.
“I feel so,” Lewis Larkam instructed the Crash F1 podcast.
“Hamilton’s season final yr was poor by his commonplace however it might’ve been, for many drivers, their peak.
“It’s onerous to say definitively if Hamilton is on the downwards slope, if he’s already reached a peak.
“We now have seen indicators that there are areas the place he has misplaced an edge.
“This season will probably be a fairer reflection of that, as a result of we’ll see if it was the Mercedes.
“Would a 97%, 98% Hamilton nonetheless be ok to win the championship? I feel he’s, but when he’s up in opposition to a 100% Max Verstappen…
“Assuming Crimson Bull repair their points and if they’ve a really aggressive automotive, it is going to be extremely troublesome for anybody to beat Verstappen this season.
“However Hamilton, even at 99% or 98%, continues to be the motive force who can take it to Verstappen over the course of the season.
“There are nonetheless questions over the others. Lando Norris? Final season was his most profitable and strongest but, however there have been errors and query marks about his mentality.
“We didn’t see Norris v Verstappen over the course of the season.
“The one driver we’ve had that gauge with is Hamilton v Verstappen in 2021.
“Hamilton at 98% will probably be in rivalry for the championship.”
‘Obvious flaws’ of Max Verstappen’s title rivals
“The drivers behind Verstappen all have obtrusive flaws, and we now have to incorporate Hamilton in that,” Connor McDonagh stated.
“We’ve talked about his qualifying, but additionally his race craft these days isn’t what it was.
“He’s much less aggressive, extra conservative. That has execs when you’ve gotten one of the best automotive, and also you’ve received to get it over the road, and take much less threat.
“However once you’re decrease in qualifying, he’s much less conservative. “He’s used to racing on the entrance with Mercedes.
“That’s the massive query mark round Hamilton.
“Even if you happen to take away 2024 – simply in 2022 and 2023, his race tempo was excellent whereas qualifying was extra hit or miss.
“These inconsistencies, Verstappen doesn’t actually have.
“However, it’s Hamilton, and in six months I don’t wish to appear to be a idiot!”
