Former Brazillian F1 champion Nelson Piquet has offered his take on the Max Verstappen versus Lewis Hamilton debate saying there is no doubt Verstappen would "smash" Hamilton. Piquet who raced against the likes of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Nigel Mansell thinks it's Verstappen's aggressiveness and hunger, which gives him an advantage over the British champion. "If Max were driving for Mercedes, I’m sure that he would smash Hamilton," Piquet told Motorsport.com. "Max is more aggressive. He may make mistakes more frequently due to this aggressiveness, but in my opinion he’s better than Hamilton." Piquet also highlighted how Hamilton has had it easy with respect to his teammates over the years, controversially saying that Valtteri Bottas was a better driver than Nico Rosberg. "Things are too easy for Hamilton to win it all with Bottas by his side as a second driver," Piquet continued. "It’s not that Hamilton isn’t good. But he has an inferior driver by his side and the previous one (Rosberg) was even worse. He (Rosberg) won because it was a year where Hamilton had crashes and DNFs." Piquet's son Nelson Piquet Jr. also added to his father's views comparing Verstappen to an MMA fighter. "I like to compare Max with a MMA fighter, coming ready to face any challenge," Piquet Jr. said. "It’s different from Lewis, that already won championships and so on.Lewis’ experience will help in some areas, but Max’s willingness and aggressiveness is bigger. "I think we have to consider two things: Lewis’ experience and Max’s desire. Lewis has been in F1 for 15 seasons and I think that, little by little, you start to lose that desire. On the other hand, Max is coming with a knife between his teeth." The fight between Hamilton and Verstappen is clearly going to be the biggest talking point of the 2021 F1 season. Both men have their strengths and weaknesses and it will be fascinating to see how this battle will unfold.
Most read
