Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton thinks 26-year-old F1 rival was ‘faultless’ in 2023

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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has praised Formula 1 rival Max Verstappen after his ‘faultless’ season for Red Bull to claim a third-straight drivers’ championship in 2023.

The 26-year-old and his Milton Keynes team dominated the pinnacle of motorsport this year in record-breaking fashion. Verstappen enjoyed statistically the most successful season in F1 history in 2023. No driver may ever surpass what the Dutchman and Red Bull accomplished.

So, Hamilton can only doff the Mercedes ace’s hat to what Verstappen and Red Bull realised. This year also took Verstappen past Ayrton Senna (41), Alain Prost (51) and Sebastian Vettel (53) to rank third, behind Hamilton (103) and Michael Schumacher (91), for Grand Prix wins.

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton praises Max Verstappen and Red Bull

Hamilton thinks Verstappen, Red Bull and the Belgium-born driver’s teammate, Sergio Perez, all deserve praise for their success. The level of their dominance also leaves Mercedes with lots of work to do to be title contenders in 2024. But he has confidence in the Silver Arrows.

“I have to say a big congratulations to Red Bull and to Max and Checo,” Hamilton stated, via quotes by Sky Sports. “They’ve done an incredible job this year. Max was faultless. The team really raised the bar and we have a lot of work to close that gap.

“But I truly do believe that we can close that gap. And a big, big thank you to my team because they never gave up this year. We started off with the sister basically of the previous year’s car which was not good and not fun to drive for most of the year but no one gave up.”

Max Verstappen shattered the F1 record books in 2023

Verstappen now holds the records for the most wins in one season (19) and the best win per cent (86.3%). He also became the first Formula 1 driver to eclipse 1,000 laps led in a season. While his run of 10 Grand Prix wins in a row from May to September was even a new record.

Such was the dominance Verstappen delivered in Red Bull’s almost all-conquering RB19 that he also shattered the previous record for the most points scored in a Formula 1 season. The Dutchman smashed the 454-point marker he held in 2022 with 575 in 2023 from 22 rounds.

The RB19 was only nearly all-conquering as Ferrari star Carlos Sainz denied Red Bull a 100% win rate. He took full advantage of their only weekend off the pace to win the Singapore GP. Verstappen’s teammate, Perez, won the other two Grand Prix through the first four rounds.