Ever since the 2021 season, the debate over who’s better has been oscillating between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The debate has divided the world of F1 and has produced two schools of thought. There are those who are in awe of what Max Verstappen is achieving at the moment. Nevertheless, people have also not forgotten what Hamilton has achieved in his illustrious career. Although, both parties accept that the two world champions are a class apart. However, a new school of thought is now debating who has or is enjoying a more dominant period in the sport. To end this debate, Jody Scheckter, the 1979 Formula 1 champion has chimed in.
It is a fact that in F1’s history, no team and driver has enjoyed a more successful run of races than Red Bull and Verstappen in 2023. In fact, the Dutchman became the most dominant driver in the sport’s history over a season in 2022, with his 15 race wins. If his current form continues, he is well on the course of breaking his own record set in the previous season.
Regardless of all these achievements, Scheckter, while speaking to Kicker, as quoted by F1 Maximaal, believes Mercedes has also enjoyed an equally dominant period.
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He said, “They are just as dominant as Mercedes and perhaps Mercedes was more dominant than this. That’s slowly getting boring.” (Translated by Google)
According to Scheckter, there is no difference in both the teams’ dominant period over a prolonged time. However, the South African did mention a feature of Verstappen’s supremacy that Hamilton doesn’t agree with.
Jody Scheckter pokes Lewis Hamilton with his comments about Max Verstappen’s dominance
Hamilton recently went on record to claim Verstappen’s dominance over his teammate “gets blowup up a lot more“ when he truth he’s faced a tougher set of drivers as his teammates.
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This statement from Hamilton received its fair share of criticism and support. However, according to Scheckter, Verstappen’s dominance is still commendable. In fact, we went on to say, the Dutchman might go on to become an eight-time champion.
He said, “It is unbelievable. He has always been superior to his teammates. It didn’t matter who you put on that team. If it continues like this, it could really become eight world championships.”
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Talk about stirring the pot. We are not sure if Hamilton will ever comment on these statements, but the South African has definitely made some bold statements in favor of the Dutchman. It will be interesting to see how true they turn out to be over time.