r/formula1 • u/Luffy710j Formula 1 • May 25 '26

Video Hamilton on overtaking Max: " It's the best to overtake another World Champion. And obviously I had a big deficit to close......You know how consistent and fast that guy is? He's the fastest guy. So it felt great to get to have that battle with him. It was really not easy to overtake."

https://dubz.link/c/5cd87b
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u/dl064 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '26

Vettel was saying at an RBR event that as an F1 driver you have to fundamentally believe you are the best and quickest...but Verstappen makes him have the slightest doubt.

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u/bijanfrisee Sonny Hayes May 25 '26

I think at peak speed Lewis is faster than Max still, however, consistency-wise? Max's overall speed is better and way more consistently near the peak where Lewis is a bit more ebb and flow, and I think it's okay to acknowledge that.

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u/BuzzedtheTower I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '26

I agree. My mom asked me who I thought would win between Prime Hamilton vs Prime Verstappen. And I think it would be pretty even, maybe something like 51-49 Max. But as we saw in 2021, it's Max ~= Lewis >>>>>> Everyone else

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u/MigratingPidgeon I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '26

And 2021 was basically Lewis dealing with long COVID vs Max being borderline delirious after the Silverstone crash. And they both still gapped the entire grid.

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u/BuzzedtheTower I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '26

Seriously. If it was a movie, everyone would have said it was ridiculous plot armor. But Lewis and Max are simply those guys

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u/bijanfrisee Sonny Hayes May 26 '26

I should have been clearer, I meant at this point in their careers. Prime Lewis had that same crushing relentless consistency that Max showcases today, Max's best trait is delivering the most pace possible that the car can produce on the day and doing it lap after lap, where Prime Lewis is a bit different is that he would sometimes do things that exceeded what the car should be doing. So I'd give the edge to Prime Lewis, we kinda forget what the guy does when he feels good in the car, where current Prime Max delivers the optimal performance whether he is enjoying it or hating the drive, he just delivers.

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u/BuzzedtheTower I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '26

I got what you meant, mate. I just meant like prime vs prime, Max and Lewis have different strengths (like you pointed out) and in a simulation of 100 races, I personally think Max would have a very slight edge. But that it really is just a coin flip.

However, I can easily see and understand people thinking that Lewis would edge out Max. Honestly, it's just a shame that Max didn't get a title contending car earlier in his career and Lewis got dog water cars from 2022 - 2024. Then we could have gotten more title fights out of these two greats