Formula One: Dethroning Hamilton proving challenging

Lando Norris currently fourth in driver's standings will race in Gulf colours at Monaco. Photo / Supplied

Statistically, Lewis Hamilton has made the best start to a championship since he joined F1 in 2007, yet some commentators and pundits would have everyone believe there is a titanic battle going on between Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

The latter, points-wise, has also made his best start to a championship since he joined F1 in 2015 as an 18-year-old. But in reality, his title challenge is beginning to look like an attempt to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, which was said to be unsinkable. The ship sank, and sadly, so will Verstappen's challenge in time, it seems.

Max's father Jos raced in F1 with limited success, between 1994 and 2003. He raced for seven different teams, and his first season in 1994 as teammate of Michael Schumacher at Benetton, was his best.

The car had some legality issues, but not enough to stop Schumacher controversially winning his first championship by colliding with Damon Hill in the championship decider in Adelaide.

Jos scored two podiums, one in Hungary and the other at Spa in Belgium, after Schumacher was disqualified. But despite starting 107 grand prix, he only scored 17 points. He was not a very good driver, causing a number of crashes, most notably with Eddie Irvine in Brazil in 94, and with Juan Pablo Montoya at the same venue, seven years later.

On that occasion, Montoya had overtaken Schumacher and was on his way to his first victory in just his second race, but as he lapped Verstappen, the latter rammed him from behind.

The fact that Verstappen and Schumacher were close friends may have had nothing to do with his careless driving, but it pretty much summed up Jos' judgment and ability in an F1 car.

That wasn't his most infamous moment, however. At the German GP in 94, his car caught on fire during re-fuelling and was engulfed in flames, not dissimilar to the fiery incident that befell Romain Grosjean in Bahrain last year. Fortunately, like Grosjean, he escaped with minor burns.

Jos has accompanied Max to basically every grand prix that his much more talented son has contested and is determined to see him become world champion.

Red Bull made a promising start this year, with Max leading the first race in Bahrain, only to lose it when he was deemed to have overtaken Hamilton off track, so gaining an advantage, but then won the second race at Imola. However, Hamilton has won three out of the four races so far, and Jos can see that the title dream for Max is already beginning to fade, even though it is early days.

He was asked by De Telegraf if Mercedes might dominate again this season.

"Yes, I do have that fear," Verstappen senior said.

"After the winter test and also after the first race it seemed Red Bull had a very good car. Mercedes, however, quickly turned the tide.

"You can see at the moment Mercedes have a lot less tyre wear," Jos noted. "And I also think Max needs to drive more on the limit purely to keep up with them. As a result, he is asking a lot more from the tyres.

"Within Red Bull they are not frustrated yet. They say it's still a long season. I personally think Mercedes are also a lot faster in qualifying, but that Max is squeezing so much out of it that it's still so close."

Jos says the ability of Red Bull to develop their car throughout the season is "the only thing we can hold on to".

"Let one thing be clear - Red Bull, Honda and Max are extremely keen and doing everything they can to take the championship. They really need to make another step. Preferably as soon as possible, because the gap should not become too big. We need to improve in all areas."

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin is full of praise for the job Hamilton is doing, and his attitude to the challenge from Red Bull this season.

"He's doing a good job, isn't he?," referring to a Twitter post noting Lewis' best ever start to an F1 season, with three victories, one second, 94 points and a 14-point lead over Verstappen, after four races.

"It surprises me that stat, because you think this is the least competitive margin we've had for a number of years. But what I would say is he has arrived with a frame of mind that is just about maximising every little opportunity, be it on the track, in the set-up, how we approach the weekend. He brought that to Bahrain and we haven't seen it wane at all since."

Former team owner, and now commentator, Eddie Jordan is in no doubt that Hamilton is now the GOAT (Greatest of All Tim), having surpassed Schumacher in the number of race wins and equaled his seven titles.

"Both are unique, so it makes me rather schizophrenic to have to choose a winner, but, I choose Hamilton," Jordan says.

"Lewis never won his titles in a collision like Michael in Adelaide in 1994. Lewis' time at Mercedes was never tarnished by rumours of cheating. I still remember how Michael suffered when Benetton were accused of using illegal traction control in 1994. And his time at Ferrari didn't quite go by without someone pointing a finger at the red team.

"These speculations shouldn't diminish Michael's performances. Both are quite simply very big in their profession," he added.

"Ayrton Senna is out of the competition for me. He was a magician in every way. He died far too early to be able to evaluate him objectively."

Max Verstappen's ambition to become world champion is well documented but is probably similar to just about every driver on the starting grid.

McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo was touted as a future world champion when he joined Red Bull in 2014 and beat his teammate, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. But when Verstappen joined the team and got the better of him, Ricciardo moved to Renault for two seasons, before joining Lando Norris at McLaren this year.

The 31-year-old was asked if he believes he is still good enough to win a championship if he gets in the right car.

"I wouldn't say I'm afraid of it," Ricciardo replied. "I've never doubted my ability, but I know enough to know that in such a competitive sport, there are no guarantees. I haven't changed my goal, but it's true that I might not be in Formula 1 for another 10 years. I still trust myself, but not enough to bet my house that I will win the title. I know how this sport works."

Former McLaren racing director Eric Boullier believes that Norris could be good enough to become an F1 champion.

"I guess you can only see in F1 how they mature and then you can see if they are world champion material, which is different," Boullier observed.

"Norris won everything below F1 and is developing very well and could be an F1 champion in the future, just like Max Verstappen."

Boullier also believes that McLaren has been improving year after year and says the budget cap and the new regulations next year will help teams like McLaren challenge for the title.

"Hopefully in the future everybody can fight for the championship," he added.

Meanwhile, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is relishing the title fight so far, seeing it as a "fight of the giants and I still have the feeling that we haven't got the pace on Saturday, but we seem to be quicker on Sunday-and I simply love it".

He says he doubts that Mercedes and Red Bull will do what some other teams have already done, and that is concentrate on the 2022 season when the regulations change.

"You simply can't let 21 go, but at the same time, every single week you lose for 2022 is going to cost you immense performance because the development slope is just much steeper than with the mature regulations that we have today."

This weekend F1 returns to Monaco for the iconic street race that was missing from the calendar last year due to Covid-19.

Ricciardo, who won the race with Red Bull in 2018, says it is his favourite circuit. The McLaren drivers will have a change of livery for their cars and race overalls, displaying the Gulf colours made famous in Steve McQueen's classic film Le Mans. But unlike the wide open and lengthy Le Man circuit at 13.6km, Monaco has 19 tight corners over its 3.33km course.

Pole position is vital because overtaking is almost impossible, although superior pit strategy can determine the outcome, as it did for Hamilton in Spain. Speed and power are not essential factors around the twisting circuit, so it presents Red Bull, or even Ferrari and McLaren with an opportunity to best Mercedes.

But if Hamilton wins, there will be an audible sigh of despair up and down pit-lane, because it will confirm the Mercedes dominance that Jos Verstappen fears.