"So much happened in 2021" - Jos Verstappen dismisses prospects of Max Verstappen being teammates with Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen's father Jos has dismissed the prospects of the Dutch driver being teamed up with Lewis Hamilton at Red Bull in the future. The two drivers have become archrivals ever since Max got his hands on a more competitive car. As soon as he did that, the two battled for the title in 2021.

The battle was eventually won by Max Verstappen in the last race of the season but since then, while the Red Bull driver's career has taken off, the same cannot be said about Hamilton.

Since the 2021 F1 season, the Mercedes driver has not won a single race and has not been in contention for the title. On the other hand, Max has been on a roll.

In the 2023 F1 season alone, the Dutch driver won as many as 19 races and cruised to a title. During this season, in the last race at Abu Dhabi, Red Bull boss Christian Horner had claimed that Hamilton's team had reached out to know if there was a seat within the Austrian team.

While the British driver did deny any such approach, it did lead to a lot of speculation over how a possible partnership could look like.

Max Verstappen's father Jos has, however, put cold water over any such suggestions, saying that after what happened in 2021 where the title battle got heated,

“I would like to see it. But I think everybody knows that it will never have a chance in the end. For some people, it would be very enjoyable to watch. But I don’t think… so much happened in 2021, I think, that it is never going to happen,” he told PlanetF1.

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Max Verstappen's father feels Red Bull's gap at the front is shrinking

When questioned if he feels there could be a challenge coming from the rivals, Jos Verstappen felt that the gap Red Bull enjoyed at the start of the 2023 F1 season is shrinking and it will depend on what the other teams bring to their cars to see which direction the momentum flows in the future.

“We feel that the other ones are coming closer. [The gap is shrinking], absolutely. So it all depends on what they make in the factory those days and we’ll see for next year,” he explained.

Max Verstappen is now a three-time world champion and has been dominant over the last two years. It will be interesting to see if there is a possible challenge that he could face in the coming season.