Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson thinks it’s “fair” that Max Verstappen is rated significantly higher than Lewis Hamilton in the new F1 2024 video game.
Driver ratings have been introduced to the official F1 game since 2020, with all competitors on the grid being rated based on their experience, race technique, awareness and pace, all of which contribute to an overall rating.
Max Verstappen ranked higher than Lewis Hamilton in F1 2024 driver ratings
In the game’s driver ratings for the 2024 edition, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen received an overall score of 96, seven points higher than Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion Hamilton’s 89 points.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso is the second highest rated driver behind Verstappen with an overall score of 92 points, with Ferrari team-mates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and McLaren star Lando Norris tied with Hamilton on 89 points.
The recognition comes as three-time world champion Verstappen has established himself as the dominant force in modern F1 since the start of his first title-winning season in 2021, winning 50 of the last 75 races.
PlanetF1.com driver ratings: Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s standings in F1 2024
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Hamilton, meanwhile, is without a race win since the penultimate race of 2021 in Saudi Arabia and the 39-year-old has lost qualifying to Mercedes team-mate George Russell for all but one of the first nine 2024 F1 races.
Hamilton’s struggles saw his “pace” score drop to 87 compared to Verstappen’s 96, with the Red Bull driver also ranked higher than Hamilton in race technique (98 to 90) and awareness (94 to 92).
Lawson competed in five races for Red Bull Junior Team RB (then AlphaTauri) in F1 in 2023 as a replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, impressing by scoring the team’s best result of the season in ninth place in Singapore.
And the New Zealander acknowledged the striking difference between Verstappen and Hamilton, claiming that Verstappen has been driving at a “very high” level for some time.
He told talkSPORT: “I think it’s fair, to be honest with you. I think it’s fair.”
“Max is very strong right now. [run of form].
“Obviously the team has been very strong in recent years and Max has been driving at a very high level.
“That’s not to say Lewis isn’t like that, I’m sure he’s still very competitive, but I don’t know.”
“In F1 it’s really difficult to judge because you can only compare yourself to your team-mate.
“Honestly, it’s really hard to compare teams. The only person you can really compare yourself to is the person in the same car as you.”
Lawson’s comments came after Hamilton admitted he had “one of the worst races I’ve ever had” at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished six places behind pole-sitter Russell.
“My own performance was really poor last weekend,” Hamilton said after finishing fourth in Montreal.
“Other factors come into play. [in qualifying]”But mostly it was my own fault, today was one of the worst races I’ve had so far. I just made a lot of mistakes.
“Obviously, if we had done better in qualifying we would have been in a better position, so here we are and we’ll re-plan.”
“On the positive side, a massive thank you to everyone at the factory for evolving this car. It’s becoming a car we can compete with, so that’s a real positive going into the next stage of this season.”
“We expect there will be more upgrades in the future, they are on the way so it will be a close race.
“And if you put your mind to it, you’ll get better results.”
F1 pundit Martin Brundle responded to Hamilton’s comments, warning the seven-time world champion that he must perform at his absolute best now if he is to keep up with F1’s new generation of talent.
Brundle said in his post-race column for Sky Sports: “Lewis later said it was one of his worst drives, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but he probably made lots of little mistakes here and there.”
“The young players ahead of him are young, fast and fearless, but also very experienced. To match or beat them, he will need to play his best at all times.”
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