Hamilton opens up on Verstappen’s 2019 challenge

Lewis Hamilton will be going into the 2019 season with 5 world championship to his name and would be hoping to edge a little closer to Schumacher’s record of 7 world titles post the 2019 season.

His chief rival should be Vettel, who did take the attack to Hamilton in the 2018 season, but the German’s challenge gradually faded away towards the end of the season.

While, Vettel was on his way down, Max Verstappen was making significant strides towards the back end of the season, showing the world that he could be a serious contender next season.

Hamilton will need to fend off the strong challenge from Bottas and the Ferrari duo, but he feels that Max too could be a threat next season.

While the Renault powered Red Bull package lacked reliability and power, the Honda engine details seem to be encouraging and could help Red Bull launch a concrete title challenge next season.

Hamilton has seen Max evolve over time and has now spoken about his threat going into the 2019 season.

“Max drove very well throughout last year, showing his consistency,” Hamilton said, as quoted by onestopstrategy.com.

“He was right up there with us many, many times, so if his team does the job and delivers a platform with which he can compete even closer with us, then of course he’ll be in the fight.”

Sebastian Vettel too had earlier spoken about how Verstappen could become a real title contender next season on.

“I think he’s got all the ingredients,” Vettel said.

“I think there’s a couple of guys out there who have these qualities and Max is certainly one of them.”  he added.