Verstappen surpassed Hamilton to become F1’s best champion. Who is in the top 1?

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard chose Max Verstappen over Lewis Hamilton in his ranking of the best champions in F1 history.

Verstappen came close to increasing his title tally last month but finished the season just two points behind Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi. Despite this, the Dutchman remains a four-time world champion, which already places him among the most successful drivers in Formula 1 history.

Hamilton tops the list of the most successful drivers of all time; He has more wins, podiums and pole positions than anyone else, and also shares the record for most championships with Michael Schumacher, with seven each.

Coulthard weighed in on the Red Flags podcast, where he was asked to rank the Formula 1 champions in a group format. In one of the semi-finals, Verstappen and Hamilton competed against each other and Coulthard chose the Dutchman.

“I’ll choose Max.

Every generation should be the best; this is evolution. There’s a definite generational overlap here, and Hamilton was incredible.

But there is also a certain gap – this is my personal opinion – but in my opinion, Max is very realistic.

Hamilton had a difficult final year at Mercedes and his decline in form continued in his first season at Ferrari. According to Coulthard, the British pilot has already passed the peak, while Verstappen continues to progress.

“That’s why I choose Verstappen, because if we talk about Hamilton at the top, it’s very difficult to separate them. And I keep emphasizing that because I’m not sure he’s still at the top. It’s quite a controversial opinion for a loser like me to say that.”

But we get the feeling that great pilots are either on equal footing with their teammates or beating them.

And if I’m not mistaken, he hasn’t done this to George in the last few years, and he doesn’t seem to be doing this to Charles either.

While Verstappen faced Ayrton Senna in the conditional rating final, Coulthard preferred the legendary Brazilian this time.