Hamilton’s future team have become increasingly competitive in recent races, with Charles Leclerc achieving a victory at COTA and Carlos Sainz winning in Mexico.
When Hamilton joins the team next year he will be hoping that their pace remains to aid him in his bid towards a record breaking eighth world title.
However, the champion’s recent performances have left some questioning whether Hamilton has passed his prime, particularly as he has been outpaced by team-mate George Russell.
Hamilton also suffered a bizarre crash at the start of the US GP, and struggled to finish any higher than P10 last time out in Brazil.
According to motoring journalist and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, he does not believe Hamilton can recover his pace and blasted the champion for being ‘too old’ in a brutal rant.
“We learned two important things during last weekend’s Grand Prix in Brazil,” he wrote in his column for The Sun.
“Well, three, if you count Lance Stroll, who crashed his freshly repaired car on the formation lap. And then drove it into a gravel trap.
“First of all, Max Verstappen is one of the all-time greats. He may even be the greatest driver we’ve ever seen.
“And second, Lewis Hamilton is past his prime. He blamed his car for his tail-end qualifying session but his team mate, George Russell, was on the front row.
“Of course it’s possible that because Lewis is moving to Ferrari next year, the team are filling his fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol. But that seems unlikely.