At the current stage of their respective careers, Hamilton is the master. Max Verstappen is clearly talented, but lacks the experience. While Sebastian Vettel is better at managing a race than Hamilton, provided he isn’t under serious pressure.
Speaking at a media, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone made his thoughts very clear about F1 drivers following the last season results.
“You would automatically say Lewis Hamilton is the best driver at the moment. But are there other guys who would do a job as good as or better than him in the same team? Probably yes. Max Verstappen, a hundred per cent. Certainly Sebastian Vettel, although he has he gone off a little bit. All these guys are as good as the support they get.” Ecclestone said.
“Lewis has got the maximum support. There’s not one thing missing from what he’s got behind him. With Vettel, we’ve seen it before: all of a sudden the kid from nowhere who nobody has heard of, Charles Leclerc, comes along and performs, and everyone fell in love with him at Ferrari. I’m close to Sebastian, but we don’t talk about things like this.
“But I’m guessing he feels a little bit that he has been put on the back-burner. Vettel is not in an easy position. His contract runs out at the end of this year. If this year he could show his capabilities, he should stay with Ferrari. If not, he was very happy at Red Bull, because they loved him. On reflection, it was better for him to remain at Red Bull.” Ecclestone added.
Hamilton has confirmed that he is not looking to leave Mercedes, when Ferrari is preparing to lock its two places for 2021. At the end of 2019, rumours suggested that the Briton would arrive at Ferrari in 2021.
“But I think most drivers would like to drive for Ferrari. I think financially he thought it was a good thing to do. I don’t think Hamilton would get on very well in Ferrari at this stage. He’s used to being more or less in charge. If he went and they remained in love with Leclerc, they would bury him. Hamilton is different from all. That’s great.” Ecclestone said.
