They often say, “what goes around, comes back around.” Turns out, the saying is true for F1 as well. Almost every driver we have seen who once dominated the sport went through a long, lean patch. The great Michael Schumacher did, and so did Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is currently going ahead full steam, breaking records and setting more along the way. The Dutchman was, however, warned about the inevitable reality of life which Lewis Hamilton is currently going through.

After going through a full season without a race win for the first time in his entire F1 career last year, Hamilton was ready to bounce back on top in 2023. However, Mercedes once again failed to deliver a car quick enough to challenge for race wins. Moreover, Red Bull has improved enough to grow the gulf between themselves and other teams. Witnessing the brilliance unfold before his eyes, Lewis dubbed the RB19 the fastest F1 car he had ever seen. Faster than the Mercedes cars that helped him win 4 back-to-back world championships.

Making sense of his comments in a recent episode of Unlapped: An ESPN Show, Nate Saunders said, “Remember [Nico] Rosberg and Hamilton had that great wheel-to-wheel fight [in 2014]. There’s only a few laps left after safety car. I think two laps after the restart you’ve got picture of Hamilton and Rosberg going into Turn 1 together and [Sergio] Perez, who’s in third place, is just coming around the final corner. So that’s pretty dominant as well. I’m sure all those guys in that pack behind Perez were like, ‘this is the fastest car I’ve ever seen’.”

“I think in ten years, Max Verstappen might even be looking at a car and saying, ‘this is the fastest car I’ve seen’ as it whizzes by him. It’s kind of circular as it goes around.”

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Despite the continued bad form, Hamilton decided to stick around to win the coveted 8th world championship title. To do that, he would have to get past Max’s dominant run.

Lewis Hamilton urged to up his game to pose any threat to Max Verstappen

The purple patch Verstappen is going through currently is perhaps the most dominant modern F1 era has witnessed. From winning races from as far back as P14 to winning 15 races in a single season, the Dutchman has hardly put any step wrong.

Reacting to this phenomenal run on Formula For Success podcast, Eddie Jordan said, “If everything stays well with Max, and I’m hoping that it will mentally and physically and everything to do with the car, Max is gonna hit ten world championships. Because he’s that young and that good. How fast is he? He’s just ridiculous.”

And firing a warning at Hamilton, he continued, “I think Lewis needs to get on his bike and hurry up and get number eight because it’s soon to be passed up by Max.”

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At least until the next set of regulations come into force in 2026, Max can continue to stamp his authority. But will Mercedes, Ferrari, and the new challenger Aston Martin stay silent until then?