Mercedes F1 star makes astonishing Hamilton admission

A former Mercedes F1 star and world champion has made a significant claim about Max Verstappen following an era of unprecedented dominance.

The Dutchman is the undisputed number one of the sport currently, having taken all but three wins since the final race of the 2022 season.

READ MORE: F1 announce FREE US TV channel for fans

In fact, aged just 26, he has the third most victories of any driver and shows no signs of slowing down with a dominant Red Bull team and a contract with them until the end of 2028.

It will give him the chance to win eight championships if he can knock off every single one between now and then – which would be insanity given that they would have to be consecutive and across three sets of technical regulations.

READ MORE: Newey's wife drops HUGE F1 move hint after 'scoping out' next house

Just how good is Max Verstappen?

Lewis Hamilton is right up there with Michael Schumacher as perhaps the greatest drivers of all time, but Nico Rosberg believes that it won't be long before Verstappen joins that conversation with them.

According to the 2016 F1 champion, Verstappen is already in the upper echelons of the greatest talents ever.

“Verstappen easily, yeah. Because he's very soon going to be a top-five driver of all time with [Ayrton] Senna, [Michael] Schumacher, with Lewis [Hamilton] and [Juan Manuel] Fangio,” he told Business of Sport.

“I mean, he's already mentioning now that he's not going to be around forever but for sure he has many many more years in it.

“I mean at the moment also, it has become I think a little bit easier currently for him because there's no team-mate that's threatening him because he is so fast. It's not the team-mate that's slow and his car is so great.”

READ MORE: Rosberg reveals F1 career decision that cost him $100 MILLION

Related