Max Verstappen has reached the 'next level' of his talent, says former F1 champion

Max Verstappen is driving at a new level this season and has been far ahead of every other driver on the grid. This is the view of former F1 World Champion Damon Hill.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Damon Hill recapped the kind of season Max Verstappen has had this year. The Red Bull driver does not make mistakes often and tends to remain calm as he has shown this season.

Damon Hill spoke on the maturity with which Verstappen has been driving this season and has reached a whole new level. He said:

"Basically, his performance this year has been pretty sublime. You have people drawing attention to his lap time consistency during the Mexican Grand Prix, where he kind of lapped within two tenths of a second virtually every lap for about 40 laps. He has been driving so maturely and so serenely, he's reaching that next level in terms of how people regard his talent."

Hill also touched on how Max Verstappen was able to hold his own against a talent like Charles Leclerc. The former English world champion said:

"Well, he's not having to fight another team for a world championship, so that feistiness, he didn't seem to have the same reaction to his competition with Charles as he's had with Lewis. There seems to be some sort of, I don't know, difference of opinion between those two [Verstappen and Hamilton], but less so with Charles Leclerc. Charles was a title contender and Max seemed to kind of deal with it quite comfortably."

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Max Verstappen's teammates need to understand that he is special

In a recent interview, even Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko spoke about how sometimes he has to sit down with Verstappen's teammates and make them understand that they don't have to beat him.

Max Verstappen's teammates have to understand that he is a special talent and that they should rather focus on themselves. Helmut Marko said:

"At some point, you have to accept, pfft, this guy is special, and it's simply not possible to defeat him. It is my job to make them [Verstappen's teammates] understand this. Is that cruel? I don't think so."

Marko further said:

"They compare their cars with his; 'are our cars the same?' they think, 'how can I beat him?'. They can't because they try to change the set-up of the car or adapt to his driving style. Of course, they cannot accept that you are simply not on the same level as him."

Max Verstappen is now a two-time world champion and the way he has been going this season, it's hard to see if the momentum will come to a halt next season.