“He’s done it seven times before”: F1 veteran argues Lewis Hamilton would beat Max Verstappen in ‘identical cars’

Former Ferrari Race Engineer Rob Smedley is of the opinion that the Red Bull is faster but Lewis Hamilton would beat Max Verstappen in it.

Rob Smedley has been an engineer in Formula One for a vast amount of time. The British engineer worked with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in his 2008 campaign against Lewis Hamilton.

Recently, while speaking with the F1 Nation Podcast, the former engineer gave his opinion on the right title fight between the two championship leaders.

”I’ve got to go with Lewis, because he’s done it seven times before,” said the Briton when asked who he thought would clinch the championship this year.

 

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“Now, that’s not to take anything away from Max, because Max is a once-in-a-generation talent,” Smedley continued. 

Also read: “He’s so natural in his talent”- Sergio Perez in awe of his teammate Max Verstappen

“But I think that Lewis has learned more of his craft than Max – just like anybody, he’s just been doing it longer than Max.” It was then that the Former race engineer proposed the hypothetical situation where both drivers were to drive the same cars.

“He’s done it seven times before, so if they were in identical cars with identical tyres and all the rest of it for the five remaining races, I would still back Lewis at this point in time.”

Red Bull have the car to beat Lewis Hamilton

The F1 veteran who has also acted as Head of Vehicle Performance for Williams, among his many other Formula 1 roles believed that in comparing the cars by the two constructors, Red Bull has the upper hand.

“If I was going to go for car, I would go for the Red Bull. I think it’s a slightly better car and it has been a better car all season. “I read something over the weekend where Helmut Marko has said that Max has given away 50 points or something like that.”

“Now, I don’t know whether that’s true. If you take the races where he hasn’t finished, it might not be a net 50 points compared to Lewis, but it’s certainly quite a few points that he’s given away.” concluded the former Ferrari engineer.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will once again battle it out with five races to go. This week’s race in Mexico sets off a triple-header which will go to Brazil next followed by Qatar.