Max, park the insults and show Lewis some respect

PERHAPS Max Verstappen now knows what defines greatness on a motor racing track. It arrived, at speed, in his rear-view mirror at the Hungaroring, a second per circuit faster across the last 19 laps. It stood on the podium, above him. It leads the championship by an unstoppable margin, again.

Verstappen will in all probability one day be where Lewis Hamilton is now, but for the time being a little respect is due. Certainly more respect than the young man showed in the build-up to Hamilton’s latest, remarkable grand prix win.

‘Lewis has won many championships, but that doesn’t define great,’ Verstappen said. ‘He’s undoubtedly one of the best, but to say the best of his generation — maybe it’s Fernando Alonso? He could have won seven, eight world titles had he been at the right team.’ Well, he could have won a couple more, certainly.

He could have won the drivers’ championship in 2007 when he finished a point behind Kimi Raikkonen, level in second place with his McLaren team-mate, a young man from stevenage in his first F1 season. Alonso was so up for that in-house fight that he quit the team, and Hamilton won the championship in a McLaren the following season. Verstappen made it sound as if he got lucky.

so do it. If it’s that easy, do it. Do it in an inferior model as Hamilton did in 2008 because McLaren didn’t win the constructors’ championship that year. It went to Ferrari, meaning he was the best driver but not in the best car. That is a rare feat. Michael schumacher never did it, nor Ayrton senna.

Three drivers have pulled this off across the last 33 seasons, and none this century. so if Verstappen is implying that Hamilton’s cars are what makes him great, he needs to be reminded why he gets them.

One day Verstappen will be where Hamilton is now. He is a brilliant, exciting talent who will have his pick of teams. And this is because he has been proved worthy. His performances for Red Bull have shown the great talent within. If Hamilton tired of competition and retired, Mercedes would immediately target Verstappen as his replacement.

He has shown himself capable in inferior machines and that is how a driver ends up with a good one. What is strange is that this argument even needs reinforcing. Verstappen’s father, Jos, was an F1 driver. Max was the youngest in F1 history. He is steeped in the sport. He knows how it works.

Maybe this was just poor timing. The world has been waiting for a Hamilton-Verstappen head to head. That it should happen just days after some rather outspoken comments, and that Hamilton should triumph so dramatically, only heightened the sense of a lesson delivered.

Hamilton has the better car, yes. Meaning he should win. And the tactical decision made by James

Vowles, Mercedes’ head strategist, was nothing short of brilliant. Left to his own devices, Hamilton would not have changed tyres a second time in Hungary.

The pit-stop left him 19 seconds shy of Verstappen with 20 laps to go. ‘I wasn’t thinking this is genius, no,’ said Hamilton later.

Yet when Verstappen talks greatness, what matters is this. Vowles could not have made that change with any other driver, and guaranteed that result. Not many drivers through history, either.

Verstappen’s progress was held up by slower cars initially, but once he was through that part of the field, Red Bull felt he had more than enough to get home.

That Hamilton hunted him down, second by second, lap by lap, is proof that greatness is not simply bestowed by sitting in a cockpit and flicking a switch.

It is bravery, technical skill, the wit to execute strategy, all of the attributes that have set Hamilton apart from the day he entered the sport.

Verstappen, too. Whether Hamilton was aware of the earlier comments, he was generous in victory. Asked to mark his season so far he gave himself a high eight, and when Verstappen wouldn’t play ball with the same question, he gave his rival a nine or high nine for his most recent races.

He’s no fool. He knows what is coming and who is coming for him. But, for now, Hamilton is the greatest racing driver of this generation. Respect is due.