F1 News
Irvine compares Hamilton and Verstappen: 'Bit like the Schumacher effect'
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen is having a very strong season in 2021 and many people are noticing that. Even former F1 driver Eddie Irvine sees Verstappen driving well and even dares to say that Verstappen is currently the fastest driver in the entire field, even though Lewis Hamilton is close behind.
"The 2021 season so far has been amazing. Verstappen is definitely the fastest driver out there at the minute, but you have to say Lewis Hamilton is probably still the top driver," Irvine said in an interview with BetWay.com. For the first four races, fans were treated to four on-track battles between the two direct competitors for the title.
Verstappen has just a bit more talent
But Irvine does think Verstappen has taken a long time to get to the level he achieves in 2021. "Finally after six seasons, he’s definitely getting his act together. He’s always been super-fast, and you can see that he’s by far the most dominant team leader on the grid. He’s had many, many different second drivers in the team and none of them have got close to him," Irvine continued.
"So it’s a bit like the Michael Schumacher effect," believes Irvine, who was Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari for four years. "While Lewis has been regularly out-qualified and outperformed by his teammates, you’d have to say Verstappen is probably the ultimate talent." Irvine does add that Hamilton has very few weaknesses.