F1 News
Former F1 champion: Bottas "got mugged" by Hamilton in Hungary
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Former Formula 1 champion Damon Hill thinks Hungarian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton and runner-up Max Verstappen are in a class of their own at the moment, as the duo finished over 40 seconds clear of the rest of the grid at the Hungaroring on Sunday.
Pole-sitter Verstappen ran away from the pack at the start of the race and was followed by the chasing Hamilton, who did a good job keeping the pressure on his rival.
As the two stars kept battling for the length of the race, they pulled away by a full minute from the rest of the grid, underlining how good both drivers are in their current form.
"He [Hamilton] and Verstappen are almost in a different race at the moment," Hill, a Sky Sports F1 pundit, said on the broadcast.
"Max has got his eyes on being first in the championship at the moment.
"He's got his eyes on that and Valtteri is in the wars. He got mugged on the first few laps and I think it's going to be a tough decision for Toto [Wolff]."
Verstappen is just seven points behind second-placed Valtteri Bottas now, despite the Finn (on paper) working with the superior tools. After his blistering start to the season, the 29-year-old has struggled for form in recent Grands Prix. By damaging his front wing on the back of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, he didn't cover himself in glory either as he finished eighth in the end.