Peter Windsor has suggested that if Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were to become team-mates, the seven-time world champion would still lose to the Red Bull driver.
The F1 reporter and former F1 team manager discussed the possibility of Hamilton joining Red Bull on a live stream for his YouTube channel.
While he said Hamilton might ‘out-qualify Max by a tenth or two’, he doubted the British driver’s ability to beat the current world champion.
Windsor said: “Well, in order for them to be team-mates, it would mean Lewis obviously joining Red Bull. And in that situation, I think it would be Max (who would win).
“Because Max has this symbiotic relationship with Adrian [Newey], and for sure with Christian [Horner, Red Bull team principal], but more importantly with Adrian, because Adrian is the guy.”
Newey holds the reins
Windsor continued to stress the importance of Adrian Newey, the technical mastermind behind Red Bull’s recent success.
He said: “And Max knows Adrian’s brain pretty well and for sure, Adrian knows Max pretty well.
“And there’s only one Adrian and Lewis would be chiming into that, to some extent, and he’d be getting in his racing car and it would feel great, much better than the Mercedes, and he might out-qualify Max by a tenth or two.
“But in terms of overall in a season, it would be almost impossible I think to beat the Max Verstappen-Adrian Newey partnership, even if you’re Lewis Hamilton, or George Russell, or Charles Leclerc, or anybody, because it’s not just Max, and it’s not just Adrian, it’s the two of them together.”
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