Verstappen Would Beat Hamilton Even In Same Car According To Villadelprat

Thursday, 26 October 2023 at 13:00

Former Benetton team manager Joan Villadelprat compared the two F1 Champions - Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen after the 2023 United States Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton came very close to challenging Red Bull's Max Verstappen for the first place during last laps of the most recent race last Sunday at Circuit of the Americas.

Helmut Marko mentioned that "sensational" Hamilton did not make any mistakes, and even though Verstappen had everything under control, the result might have been different if the race was five laps longer.

While the seven-time world Champion came close to challenging the Flying Dutchman for the top step of the podium, Joan Villadelprat does not think the two drivers are on the same level. In an interview for PlanetF1.com, he said:

“Lewis is making mistakes. The key thing is we don’t know how good is the Red Bull. Because you can compare the Mercedes car as [George] Russell is good and he’s there with Hamilton. You can’t do that with Red Bull."

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Villadelprat contrasted the situation in Mercedes with the situation in Red Bull. Multiple F1 experts speculated that Red Bull might be building a car that suits Verstappen specifically. Villadelprat explained:

"Red Bull is Max and Checo [Perez] is a second behind and he is not a bad driver, he’s a very quick driver! Maybe the way that Red Bull has developed the car, maybe the way that Max is asking things, maybe what you do to the car to make Max quicker is completely against what Checo wants."

Hamilton has recently claimed he believes himself to be "one of the only drivers" who could challenge the three-time World Champion. On the other hand, the former Benetton team manager thinks Verstappen would beat the 38-year-old even in the same car.

After being asked whether he thinks the Flying Dutchman would come on top of the seven-time World Champion if they were put in the same car, Villadelprat said: "I think, today, yes."

"I think today he’s got such confidence. The body language, what you see, the way he approaches the weekend, the way he points the car, the way he does the first lap. Because Max, in one lap, he’s there, bam, that’s it."

Confidence is key to success, according to Villadelprat. Once a driver gets on the streak of winning, it becomes "very difficult to stop it."

"That’s his confidence, he’s got the confidence now that he is untouchable, when an F1 driver, a World Champion, gets to that stage, it is very difficult to stop it."