Clarkson: ‘Verstappen possibly the best of all time, Hamilton is too old’

Jeremy Clarkson could not praise Max Verstappen enough following the 2024 Sao Paulo GP. The 64-year-old Briton was impressed by the Dutchman. However, one driver who he believes is now ‘past his prime’ is Lewis Hamilton.

Clarkson shares Brazil GP verdict

“We learned two important things during last weekend’s Grand Prix in Brazil. Well, three, if you count Lance Stroll, who crashed his freshly repaired car on the formation lap. And then drove it into a gravel trap,” Clarkson began in his column for British newspaper The Sun.

Clarkson, who is best known for series such as Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm, was very impressed by the Dutchman’s performance that saw him take a 62-point lead in the standings ahead of Lando Norris. “Max Verstappen is one of the all-time greats. He may even be the greatest driver we’ve ever seen,” he praised the Red Bull Racing driver.

An the other hand, the Briton was less impressed with Lewis Hamilton’s performance at Interlagos last Sunday. The Mercedes driver eventually finished in P10 last Sunday. “Lewis Hamilton is past his prime. He blamed his car for his tail-end qualifying session but his teammate, George Russell, was on the front row,” he explains.

“Of course it’s possible that because Lewis is moving to Ferrari next year, the team are filling his fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol. But that seems unlikely. It’s far more probable that he’s now too old,” Clarkson concluded about the seven-time world champion.