Hill: 'Formidable Verstappen can never be discounted'
F1 News
Entering the 2025 season, for a first time in season, Max Verstappen is not the pre-season favourite to bring home the world championship title, given the Red Bull car's performance. However, according to former world champion Damon Hill, the Dutchman can never be overlooked.
'Can't discount Max'
The 1996 world champion sees that no matter what Red Bull will give Verstappen to work with, the defending world champion is always a contender. "Max is always there. Max is. You can't discount the guy, he's formidable. And if Red Bull haven't got the best car, he will make it the best car. Bit like Senna," he compared Verstappen to the Brazilian legend in the Formula for Success podcast.
Entering the season, many consider Lando Norris as the favourite for the drivers' championship, given McLaren's performance over the second half of the previous season. Hill believes the Briton slighty has the upper hand on Oscar Piastri.
"Now I keep doing this, I keep discounting Oscar because I just think that Lando had the edge on him last year, I just think in races. But they were very, very close. There's nothing between… they're both equally good but, you only need to miss out by hundreds. Now in this, the timing now is so, the margins are so small."
Hill continued: "And Lewis, have Ferrari got a car? I've heard some people suggest they could win the constructors' championship. They seem quite strong."
Verstappen's teammate hurt Red Bull's constuctors' result?
When the host, David Coulthard then answered that in this case, the Ferrari drivers' should be fighting for the drivers' title as well if they together they could top the constructors' standings, Hill pointed out that is not always the case.
"Don't forget that's kind of false because Red Bull only have one guy scoring the points. So maybe actually they were, maybe McLaren and Ferrari were actually third or second and third in the constructors’ championship if they'd had a more competitive teammate to Max," Hill continued.
However, he also expects that if Liam Lawson can perform and stay close to Verstappen this season, Red Bull could also put their name in the hat for the constructors' title as well. "I don't want to take anything away from McLaren. I think he did a fantastic job and the car is clearly good. But it will be difficult to overhaul a beefed up, let’s say Liam Lawson gets up to speed and he's supporting Max in races a bit more closely, they will be taking a lot of points," the Briton concluded, expecting the New Zealander to do better than Verstappen's previous teammate, Sergio Perez.
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!