"All of my team-mates have been stronger than the team-mates that Max has had": Lewis Hamilton's latest dig at Max Verstappen

The newly contracted Lewis Hamilton's feisty self has hit out at media coverage of Max Verstappen's dominance over his teammates. He has claimed that he has had stronger teammates in his career as compared to the Dutch driver. In the last few years, the way Max has dealt with his teammates has been very ruthless.

Since 2019, Max Verstappen has dominated his teammates to such an extent that Red Bull has had to drop him and hire someone else.

Be it Pierre Gasly (who lasted half a season), Alex Albon (who lasted 18 months), or Sergio Perez right now, all of these drivers have been dominated by the Dutch driver, and his dominance has been highlighted by the media.

Lewis Hamilton, however, is not impressed and even called out the media hype around Max Verstappen and how he dominates his teammates. Claiming that the quality of teammates that he has had in his career is much better than what Max has had.

He told Sky Sports:

“When I qualified half a second, six-tenths ahead of Valtteri, they didn’t say the same thing as they say today when Max qualifies six-tenths ahead of Perez. It’s blown up much more. And in my personal opinion, Valtteri, and actually all of my team-mates, have been stronger than the team-mates that Max has had."

He added:

“Jenson [Button], Fernando [Alonso], George [Russell], Valtteri… Nico [Rosberg] – I’ve had so many. These guys have all been very consistent, and Max has not raced against anyone like that.”

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How valid are Lewis Hamilton's comments?

On one side, there is surely some validity to these comments from Lewis. He has had world champions Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, and Nico Rosberg as his teammates.

In comparison, Max Verstappen has had Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez.

If we take a look at the overall quality, sure, one could claim that Lewis Hamilton has had better-quality teammates.

The issue would, however, come up if we looked at what Lewis actually claims. According to him, every teammate he's had in his career is better than what Max Verstappen has had.

Somewhere down the line, this claim does not hold up, especially if we take into account that a chunk of Lewis Hamilton's career saw him team up with Heikki Kovalainen and Valtteri Bottas then this claim falls shot.

Pierre Gasly has gone on to win a race in an AlphaTauri, and Carlos Sainz has been teamed up with Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari and has done a great job.

Finally, peak Daniel Ricciardo picked off wins against Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas during his first Red Bull run. Regardless of what Lewis Hamilton claims, the new feisty approach is certainly an interesting one.