F1 News

Lawson justifies Hamilton's rating drop

Why this driver believes Hamilton and Verstappen are incomparable

6 June at 19:00
2
  • Sophia Crothall

The 2024 F1 Game Driver Ratings were released at the end of May. Unsurprisingly, world champion Max Verstappen topped the list with a rating of 96. However, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ranked below Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, with a rating of 89, the same as Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. Speaking to TalkSport, Liam Lawson explained whether Hamilton's drop was fair. 

In 2021, Hamilton and Verstappen could both be found on the grid battling for first place. Now, whilst Verstappen has gone on to win three consecutive championships, Hamilton has struggled to make it on the podium, and has not won a race since 2021 either. This year, Verstappen received his highest-ever EA sports rating, and becomes just one of two drivers to achieve a score above 90. The system is based on their real life performance. 

When asked by TalkSport whether he believed Hamilton's drop was fair, Lawson replied: "I think it's fair to be honest. I think Max right now is in very, very strong [position] obviously the team's very, very strong and have been for the last couple years but Max is also driving at a level that's that's very, very high."

Is Hamilton still competitve?

In the drivers championship, Verstappen remains at the top once again, whilst Hamilton sits in 8th. Nevertheless, despite his performance, Lawson is confident the Mercedes driver is still competitive: "I fully believe that he's still very, very competitive, but I don't know. It's really hard to tell because in Formula One you can only compare to your teammate, honestly it's really hard to compare team to team, you can really only compare with the guy that's in the same car as you," he concluded.