Clarkson: ‘Hamilton is old and past his ‘best’
Jeremy Clarkson believes the Brazilian Grand Prix proved Lewis Hamilton is past his ‘best’ in Formula 1.
Verstappen took a big step towards his fourth consecutive world title last weekend by rallying from 17th place to victory in Brazil.
The Red Bull driver leads Lando Norris by 62 points ahead of the final three races of the F1 2024 season in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen’s performance in Brazil came during a weekend in which Hamilton, who is statistically the driver of history with seven championships and more than 100 wins and pole positions, struggled mightily.
Hamilton, who turns 40 in January, announced earlier this year that he would join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from 2025.
Writing in his column for The Sun newspaper, Clarkson claimed Hamilton was now ‘too old’ to perform at his peak, with Verstappen potentially the best driver in F1 history.
“We learned two important things at the Grand Prix in Brazil last weekend.
“First of all, Max Verstappen is one of the greatest of all time. Secondly, Lewis Hamilton is past his prime.”
“He blamed the car because he was last in qualifying, but his team-mate George Russell was on the front row.”
“Of course, with Lewis moving to Ferrari next year, the team could be filling the fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol, but that doesn’t seem likely.”
“It’s more likely that he’s too old to fight anymore.”
