F1 pundit's surprise pick on who he thinks Max Verstappen wants as a teammate

F1 pundit and former world champion Jacques Villeneuve feels Max Verstappen wants Lewis Hamilton to be his teammate. There have been a lot of discussions about the future of Verstappen's teammate. Sergio Perez has not been up to the mark, and questions have been raised.

Perez does join the list of Max Verstappen's teammates who succumbed to the pressure of beating him and lost their way.

The same thing happened to Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon at Red Bull, and Perez might follow suit. Villeneuve, however, feels that Red Bull simply does not care right now about who it puts alongside Max.

The team sees Max Verstappen getting the job done in both championships, and hence the teammate is the least of their worries. Having said that, Jacques did feel that Max would want to see Lewis Hamilton as his teammate so that he could prove to the world that he could beat him in the same car.

As quoted by Autosport, Villeneuve said:

"I don’t think [the team] care [who it is]. They have Max. So, right now, Max can win like this. They are easily in front, they get all the image they want, why should they care? Put a young guy there that wants to show he’s the new world leader and stirs the pot."

He added:

"I think Max would probably want Lewis… so he can show the world he can beat Lewis. That would be his ultimate goal. So, that’s probably something he would want, but I’m not sure if Red Bull would want that. I don’t know.”

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Max Verstappen's supposed pick as teammate announces contract extension

Lewis Hamilton has just announced a contract extension with Mercedes. The Brit will spend the next two years with the team and will have George Russell for company as well.

In the team's press release, Lewis said:

"We have never been hungrier to win. We have learnt from every success but also every setback. We continue to chase our dreams, we continue to fight no matter the challenge and we will win again."

He added:

"I’m grateful to the team who have supported me both on and off the track. Our story isn’t finished, we are determined to achieve more together and we won’t stop until we do."

It's safe to say that a Max Verstappen-Lewis Hamilton lineup is always going to be less than likely anyway, but this does pour cold water on whatever suggestion Villeneuve had.