Eddie Jordan dismisses prospects of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso keeping up with Max Verstappen in a title battle "due to their advanced age"

Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan believes that veteran drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will not be able to keep up with Max Verstappen due to their age.

Speaking to German publication F1-Insider, Jordan named Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc as Verstappen's main competitors. He believes that Norris and Leclerc, as teammates, would be able to challenge the defending world champion.

“If I had a top team now and didn’t get Max, there would only be one driver pairing capable of taking on Verstappen: Charles Leclerc and as teammate Lando Norris,” Jordan said.

Later on, he said does not believe Hamilton or Alonso can beat Verstappen even though they are world champions and have much more experience than the latter.

“I simply don’t believe that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who are well-deserved champions, would be able to keep up with Verstappen due to their advanced age.”

In the 2023 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton secured third place in the driver's standings by scoring 234 points, while Fernando Alonso ended up in fourth with 206 points.

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Max Verstappen on how Red Bull are trying to further improve their performance

Red Bull dominated the entire 2023 F1 season by winning 21 out of 22 races. However, last month, Max Verstappen claimed they are still trying to find more performance from their concept.

The Dutchman spoke about the race weekends where Red Bull struggled a bit and talked about how they can improve on street circuits (via Planet F1).

"It’s difficult to tell, but of course, we are also working on our car to try and make it better," he said.

"I think we know our weaknesses as well in the car, and that’s what we’ll try to work on… Look at our race weekend in Singapore. In general, on street circuits, I think we are struggling a bit more – like in Vegas also."

He added:

"Low-speed is definitely not our strongest point in the car. Bumps, kerbs as well. so that’s definitely an area where we can improve," the Dutchman said.

Red Bull scored a whopping 860 points in the constructors' championship in 2023, while Max Verstappen scored 575 in the drivers' championship.