Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson believes “it’s fair” that Max Verstappen has been rated considerably higher than Lewis Hamilton in the new F1 2024 video game.
Driver ratings have featured in the official F1 game since 2020, with every competitor on the grid measured on their experience, racecraft, awareness and pace, all of which contribute to an overall rating.
Max Verstappen ranked higher than Lewis Hamilton in F1 2024 driver ratings
The driver ratings for the 2024 edition of the game saw Red Bull driver Verstappen awarded an overall score of 96 – seven points higher than Mercedes driver and seven-time World Champion Hamilton on 89.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso stands as the second-most highly rated driver behind Verstappen with an overall score of 92, with Ferrari team-mates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc – as well as McLaren star Lando Norris – all level with Hamilton on 89.
The ratings come after three-time World Champion Verstappen has established himself as the dominant force of modern F1, winning 50 of the last 75 races stretching back to the start of his maiden title-winning campaign in 2021.
PlanetF1.com driver ratings: Where Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton stand in F1 2024
Hamilton, meanwhile, remains without a race victory since the penultimate round of 2021 in Saudi Arabia, with the 39-year-old outqualified by Mercedes team-mate George Russell at all but one of the first nine races of F1 2024.
Hamilton’s struggles have seen his ‘pace’ score tumble to 87 compared to Verstappen’s 96, with the Red Bull driver also ranked higher than Hamilton for racecraft (98 to 90) and awareness (94 to 92).
Lawson impressed in a five-race cameo for Red Bull junior team RB (then AlphaTauri) in F1 2023 as a substitute for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, securing the team’s best result of the season up to that stage with a ninth-placed finish in Singapore.
And the New Zealander has given his approval to the stark difference between Verstappen and Hamilton, claiming the former has been driving at a “very, very high” level for some time.
He told talkSPORT: “I think it’s fair, to be honest. I think it’s fair.
“I think Max right now is in a very, very strong [run of form].
“Obviously, the team’s very, very strong and have been for the last couple of years, but Max is also driving at a level that’s very, very high.
“Not that Lewis isn’t – I fully believe that he’s still obviously very, very competitive – but I don’t know.
“It’s really hard to tell because in Formula 1 you can only compare to your team-mates.
“Honestly, it’s really hard to compare team to team. You can really only compare with the guy that’s in the same car as you.”
Lawson’s comments come after Hamilton admitted to “one of the worst races that I’ve driven” at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he qualified six places behind pole-sitter Russell.
“It was just over the weekend a really poor performance from myself,” Hamilton said after finishing fourth in Montreal.
“Some other things came into it [in qualifying], but mostly myself and today just one of the worst races that I’ve driven. Just lots of mistakes.
“Of course if I’d qualified better, I would have been in a much better position, so it is what it is. I will go back to the drawing board.
“On the positive note, big, big thanks to everyone back at the factory for progressing this car, because it is becoming a car we can fight with. That’s the real positive going into this next part of the season.
“I know we have hopefully some more upgrades coming, they’re on the way, so it’s going to be a close battle.
“And if I get my head on right, I’ll get better results.”
F1 pundit Martin Brundle responded to Hamilton’s comments by warning the seven-time World Champion that he must now consistently perform at his best if he is to keep up with the new wave of F1 talent.
Writing in his post-race Sky Sports column, Brundle said: “Lewis later described it as one of his worst drives, which wasn’t apparent to me but maybe he was making a lot of small errors here and there.
“The youngsters in front of him remain youthfully fast and fearless, but have a lot of experience too and he’ll always need his ‘A game’ to match or beat them now.”