{"id":266985,"date":"2025-07-16T16:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/266985\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T16:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:11:10","slug":"guenther-steiner-names-the-one-area-where-max-verstappen-still-cant-match-lewis-hamilton-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/266985\/","title":{"rendered":"Guenther Steiner names the one area where Max Verstappen still can’t match Lewis Hamilton in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Max Verstappen\u2019s pursuit of Lewis Hamilton\u2019s Formula 1 records has slowed this year. The Red Bull driver has only won two of the first 12 races.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That puts Verstappen<\/a> on 65 overall, still 40 short of Hamilton\u2019s all-time benchmark. Despite collecting four this year, he\u2019s further back for pole positions (44 vs 104).<\/p>\n

Verstappen\u2019s title streak is set to end at four with an all-McLaren battle anticipated. He will likely miss the chance to equal Michael Schumacher\u2019s benchmark of five on the bounce.<\/p>\n

\"LewisPhoto by Mark Sutton \u2013 Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But the consensus in F1 is that Verstappen is now the best driver on the grid. Hamilton<\/a> largely held that mantle during a run of six titles in seven years at Mercedes, but has relinquished amid the tribulations of the ground-effect era.<\/p>\n

Guenther Steiner says Lewis Hamilton is the only F1 driver who\u2019s bigger than his team<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, former Haas boss Guenther Steiner<\/a> pinpointed the one area where Hamilton is still ahead of Verstappen \u2013 stature. <\/p>\n

While Red Bull<\/a> have built their operation around the Dutchman, Steiner says Hamilton is the only driver who can claim to be bigger than the team. He\u2019s racing for the sport\u2019s most iconic and successful outfit in Ferrari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The difference is that Hamilton<\/a> has embraced his status as a celebrity who transcends his sport, whereas Verstappen is only interested in racing. This contrast was summed up by the recent \u2018F1\u2019 movie, with the former serving as a producer and the latter skipping the glitzy premiere entirely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Formula 1, the only one above the team is Lewis Hamilton,\u201d Steiner said. \u201cHis presence, his stature \u2013 it\u2019s very big outside of the sport as well. <\/p>\n\nCATEGORY<\/strong><\/td>\nHAMILTON<\/strong><\/td>\nFERRARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nWDC<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nWins<\/td>\n105<\/td>\n123<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPoles<\/td>\n104<\/td>\n126<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Lewis Hamilton vs Ferrari in the 21st century<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are big in the sport, but then when you get big outside the sport, you are bigger than the actual team. I think in Formula 1, the only one you can claim that is Lewis at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMax is very big in the sport, but he doesn\u2019t work on being somebody outside of the sport. For him, his life is racing cars. Lewis has got another thing he wants to achieve in life.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we see it now with Lewis at Ferrari. There are two huge brands together, and it\u2019s almost sometimes a conflict \u2013 who is bigger? Ferrari or Lewis?<\/p>\n

Asked if he would have signed Hamilton for \u2018the Lewis factor\u2019, Steiner replied: \u201cI don\u2019t think Ferrari need that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian Horner once warned Max Verstappen about where he stood at Red Bull<\/p>\n

When uncertainty erupted over Verstappen\u2019s future at the start of 2024, then team boss Christian Horner warned him that \u2018no one is bigger than the team\u2019 (via The Guardian<\/a>). That statement may have backfired.<\/p>\n

Indeed, reports last week claimed that Verstappen was instrumental in Horner\u2019s sacking<\/a>. He may have used the prospect of joining Mercedes as leverage.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Verstappen\u2019s camp deny involvement in the decision<\/a>, and Dutch journalist Erik van Haren says \u2018all parties\u2019 concur. But whether deliberate or otherwise, his apparent discontent was surely a factor.<\/p>\n

Verstappen (third) sits 62 points above Hamilton (sixth) in the current standings, with the 40-year-old on a podium drought stretching back to last November.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen\u2019s pursuit of Lewis Hamilton\u2019s Formula 1 records has slowed this year. The Red Bull driver has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,997,707,4200,28511,998,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-266985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-ferrari","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-guenther-steiner","13":"tag-lewis-hamilton","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114863792851712005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}