David Coulthard predicts whether prime Lewis Hamilton could match Max Verstappen’s lap times

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David Coulthard has called Max Verstappen the ‘driver of his generation’ and likened his ‘relentlessness’ to Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

Verstappen ranks third all-time for race wins behind Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. He has shown the talent required to reach, or even surpass, the all-time record of seven world championships, but his future beyond the end of this year is in question.

By the time Verstappen arrived in F1 in 2015, Hamilton was already a double world champion, approaching his third title. Indeed, the Dutchman was still competing on the national karting scene when Hamilton made his F1 debut with McLaren, reflecting the generational gap.

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Max Verstappen is ‘the best’ right now – but prime Lewis Hamilton would have ‘same pace’

Speaking on the Cars & Money podcast, Coulthard said that Verstappen is a cut above drivers like Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – all of whom were born between 1997 and 2001.

Those drivers could get close to Verstappen in equal machinery, but Coulthard says only a prime Hamilton could have ‘the same pace’.

Jolyon Palmer believes Hamilton peaked in just his second season (2008), but others say he reached his highest level at Mercedes, where he won six titles in seven years.

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“Max is the driver of his generation in terms of talent and the excitement,” said Coulthard. “I think he’s the best. I think Lewis in his prime could have the same pace as him.

“I think Leclerc, George, Lando, Oscar, in a single lap, in the same car, having been able to set it up the way they want [they would all be close], but I think what Max has in my opinion is what Michael had, what Senna had – the relentlessness. It’s very difficult to beat someone that just can’t accept being beaten.”

Coulthard picked Verstappen over Hamilton when ranking F1 champions during the off-season, though this wasn’t down to speed alone.

Have we already seen ‘prime’ Lewis Hamilton against Max Verstappen?

Given that Hamilton was born 12 years before Verstappen, one could argue that they never truly competed on equal terms.

At first, there was a huge gap in experience and, more recently, Hamilton may have started to decline.

The 2021 season may have been the sweet spot. Hamilton was 36 but still looked formidable, while Verstappen had six full seasons under his belt at 23/24.

Some feel Mercedes had the better car over the course of the year, while others give Red Bull the edge. That underlines just how closely matched the two teams were.

In the end, it was Verstappen who prevailed by just eight points, albeit in extremely controversial circumstances. The very fact that the title fight went to the wire may prove Coulthard’s point about their respective speed.