Lewis Hamilton declared ‘slightly less controversial driver’ in Max Verstappen comparison

Max Verstappen alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Referring to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both as the “complete package”, David Coulthard looks at Hamilton as the “slightly less controversial” driver in racing combat, though that is no knock on Verstappen.

Verstappen has risen to the Formula 1 summit in an emphatic way since his first World Championship triumph in 2021, the Red Bull driver now chasing his fourth in a row and holding an 84-point lead at the top of the F1 2024 Drivers’ Championship standings.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton ‘tick the box in every area’

This run has seen Verstappen thrust himself into the conversation surrounding the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, which is exactly where the Dutchman belongs, in the opinion of 13-time race winner and ex-Red Bull driver Coulthard.

Asked during the Beyond the Grid podcast whether we can already talk about Verstappen as an all-time great, Coulthard replied: “Yeah, 100 per cent.

“Only those that really have an underlying dislike of him and his success and those that look for, ‘Well, he’s been in the best car’, all the excuse makers…sport has always been about finding exceptional.

“All of the grand prix drivers are good. All of the footballers are good. All of the tennis players are good. But we want to see exceptional.

“And the exceptionals find their way into the right cars. They find their way around the trouble. They’re not flawless. Of course not, they’re human beings, so they make mistakes from time to time, but their excuse book is just very thin. It might only be one piece of paper. Mine was a novel!”

Can Max Verstappen weather the storm of strengthening F1 2024 competition?

Max Verstappen punished for ‘hard racer reputation’ rather than ‘facts’ against Lando Norris

Revealed: Three ‘losers’ from the British Grand Prix…including Max Verstappen

The rise of the Verstappen era marked the end of seven-time World Champion Hamilton’s dominance, with this duo having accounted for every title on offer since 2017.

And as Coulthard explained why both drivers are the “complete package”, he highlighted Hamilton as the “slightly less controversial driver” on the track compared to Verstappen, yet Verstappen is always in control.

“The thing that brings them together is exceptional speed, under pressure, the ability to deliver a lap in qualifying,” said Coulthard, “that makes the rest of the weekend so much easier.

“And then the other key thing, because there has been drivers who were brilliant qualifiers, who couldn’t race for whatever reason, you know, I would have thought the difficult thing was being able to drive exceptionally quickly, but they are, in the case of Lewis and the case of Max, they’re just the complete package.

“They can find opportunity, they can create opportunity. They will wheel-bang on occasion. Although I have to say Lewis is, I think, a slightly less controversial driver on track in terms of sending it and seeing what happens.

“By controversial, I mean that he [Verstappen] will create moments where you’ll think, ‘Oh, what’s going to happen just in a moment’s time? Is there going to be contact?’ But in actual fact, he knows his car, he knows the track.

“They tick the box in every area, they’re good in the wet, they’re good at wheel-to-wheel, everything.”

Hamilton picked up his first win since the penultimate round of 2021 with victory last time out at the British Grand Prix, his record-breaking ninth Silverstone triumph.

Read next: The surprise Max Verstappen revelation from 51G Lewis Hamilton Silverstone crash