Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton believes that Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen can challenge him for the 2018 Formula One championship.
Four-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, 32, believes that there will be a different driver from a different team challenging him for the 2018 championship.
While Hamilton hasn’t ruled out championship competition next season from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Scuderia Ferrari’s two drivers, particularly fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, with whom he battled for almost all of this season before securing his fourth career title, he sees a new driver emerging as a championship threat who could potentially derail his hopes at winning his fifth career title and tying Juan Manuel Fangio for 2nd on the all-time list behind only the great Michael Schumacher.
That driver is Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, a 20-year-old whose Formula One career began in the 2015 season at 17 years of age driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing’s junior team, before he was promoted to Red Bull Racing after four races last season. He ended up winning his first race with the team, the Spanish Grand Prix.
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After his first career victory, Verstappen, however, then went on a 30-race winless streak. In fact, he did not even expect to win this season. But in this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, he passed Hamilton early on in the race and never looked back, dominating the race en route to his second career victory.
Since that win, he has finished in 2nd place in the Japanese Grand Prix, 4th place in the United States Grand Prix (although he actually finished the race in 3rd), and 1st place in the Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s Mexican Grand Prix win, which was his second of the season and third of his career, was even more dominant than his win in the Malaysia Grand Prix. He passed Sebastian Vettel on the first turn of the first lap of the race and never looked back, lapping all but three cars in the field.
Lewis Hamilton knows a championship threat when he sees one, and he believes that Max Verstappen will be just that next season, especially given his recent string of success and domination.
Here is what Hamilton had to say about Verstappen challenging him for the 2018 Formula One championship, per ESPN.
"“I want to be better next year. The challenge is going to be even bigger from Ferrari and Red Bull next year. Formula One doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t stand still. There is always someone there waiting to take my position. I’ve got Max sitting there waiting to take it. I’ve got to raise the game another level in order to stay ahead of him and that motivates me. There’s my motivation already for next year.”"
Next: Looking back at Lewis Hamilton's record-setting accomplishment
Do you agree with Lewis Hamilton that Max Verstappen will be a threat to Hamilton’s hopes of winning his fifth career Formula One championship in the 2018 season, a total that would tie him for 2nd place on the all-time list? All we can do is wait to find out if that will be the case at this point, as there are still two races remaining in the 2017 season as it is.