Hill: Verstappen reminded me of a young Schumacher

Damon Hill has drawn comparisons between the arrival of Michael Schumacher in F1, and Max Verstappen's challenge to Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. The 1996 F1 world champion thinks the sight of the Dutchman taking the fight to Hamilton is one that will be remembered for years to come, as this season could yet go down as a classic scrap for the world title. "I just absolutely loved it. And what I loved was the quality of the performances all the way through the field," Hill said of the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix on the F1 Nation podcast. "But particularly at the sharp end, it was, I would say, one of those defining races that they will talk about in years to come because it set it up. It was like Michael Schumacher when he arrived in Formula 1. "You know, Max Verstappen - the young pretender against the established seven times world champion going for his eighth - Sir Lewis Hamilton, who was in spectacular form." For Hill, and many other pundits, a 2021 battle between the seven-time world champion and the young heir to his throne, has the potential to be an explosive one. However, with Verstappen having to give the lead back to Hamilton following an illegal overtake around Turn 4, the former Williams driver thinks that the Brit will hold a slight mental edge after race one. "So we look back on that race. He'll [Verstappen] be going home now and actually thinking to himself, damn, I should have done this. I should have done that. Lewis meanwhile will be thinking 'gotcha', you still got a few more things to learn," Hill speculates.