Lewis Hamilton brutally snubbed as star told he has no chance of making history

Lewis Hamilton has been snubbed by a current F1 team boss who feels Max Verstappen is the “best” on the grid. AlphaTauri’s team principal Franz Tost said Verstappen would beat everyone else if the drivers were in identical cars.

Tost told De Limburger: “Getting into Formula One is one thing, but how a driver develops afterwards, you only see that during the season. Max is the best example of it. A driver with insane natural speed who has been optimally prepared for the big time by his father.

“He is the best of the whole field. Put them all in the same car and Max is at the front.” It’s likely to assume Tost does not feel Hamilton can achieve a record-breaking eighth world title anytime soon.

His comments suggest that he thinks the 38-year-old would not be able to overcome the performance deficit Mercedes currently have to Red Bull. Hamilton has previously admitted that the Silver Arrows could only hope to match Red Bull’s pace by the end of the year.

The Brit said: “Ultimately, it’s likely that bit by bit, by the end of the year, we’ll catch Red Bull, but that’s only because they’re already focusing on next year’s car because they’re so far ahead.” But based on Tost’s assessment, this will still give Verstappen a natural advantage over Hamilton.

Tost is not the first team boss to back Verstappen over the Mercedes star with Red Bull’s Christian Horner also supporting his driver. Back in 2021, Horner claimed Hamilton’s success had been partly down to the dominance of Mercedes.

He told RacingNews365: “I think Verstappen is the best, and George Russell’s performance at Mercedes confirmed that for me.

“Max and Lewis stand out for me but, while we should definitely not be blind to what Hamilton has achieved, he does have a good package at his disposal. While Max has to get more out of his car.”

Earlier this season, Haas boss Guenther Steiner also sided with the two-time Dutch world champion. When asked to pick between the duo, Steiner confidently replied “Max”.

He told Sky Sports F1: “He’s just on a roll in the moment. He cannot do anything wrong, in my opinion. Everything what he does sticks, you know, so you want to go with the guy that has got the luck attached to him.”