Albers: 'Hamilton will never agree to the arrival of Verstappen'

Chance of seat next to Hamilton is zero

The only way to systematically challenge Lewis Hamilton at an equivalent level is if Verstappen gets into an identical car, but that chance is virtually nil. Albers says in the Formula 1 podcast of De Telegraaf: "And even if it was available (seat at Mercedes, red), I can already tell that Lewis Hamilton would never agree to Max Verstappen driving next to him."

Since it's not happening this year and the chances of it happening in 2021 seem very slim, the focus will undoubtedly be on 2022, when Verstappen will still be under contract with Red Bull Racing. It's a long ride, but Albers says he can't do otherwise. "I have to say that he has made the best choice with Red Bull because it is a team that continues to fight and fight. They could have given up much earlier."

"You saw last year that they were constantly coming up with those updates, they don't give up easily, it's really a fighting team. You can see that with the pit stops, they keep fighting, fighting, they want to be the best. I personally think he's in the best place there. There is no other option, where do you want to go? Have you seen how big the gap is from Red Bull to the rest?"

In other words: There's no way to get out of the way and the best choice is his current team. On top of that, Albers argues that it can turn around like this, Ferrari is nowhere like that - apart from the discussion about the illegal engine - and it could just be that everything falls apart at Mercedes when James Allison is gone for good.