Why Hamilton vs Verstappen could surpass Senna vs Prost

But, as many say, you can make stats prove whatever you want them to. So, let’s look at something else, such as the outside influences that could make all the difference.

During 1988, Senna and Prost only had a single interloper, Gerhard Berger, who grabbed a pole at Silverstone and that one race win on Ferrari’s home turf at Monza. Aside from that it was very much a cakewalk for the two McLaren drivers, who largely only had to worry what each other was doing. They lapped the entire field in San Marino and after that it took until Silverstone (round eight) for anybody beyond the top 4 to stay on the same lap as the leading McLaren.

The same just won’t happen this season. The field is simply now too tight, plus the battle this season is arguably all the more rich due to the protagonists being in different teams, rather than acting as team-mates. There’s just something more satisfying about seeing the blue car battling with the silver one. It gives less of a feeling of one-sidedness, less about a single faction dominating, and essentially removes the argument over any potential team orders. In fact, team orders becomes an added element into the mixture.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen clearly enjoy number one status in their respective teams, meaning each can enjoy or employ a wingman should push come to shove later in the season. But those other two cars could also themselves creep into this fight. Bottas may be in the shade at the moment, but he’s still up there in the second Mercedes (he has been a race winner in all of his seasons with Mercedes, bar one) and Sergio Perez is finding his feet as Verstappen’s team-mate in a clearly very well sorted high-rake Red Bull, plus the McLarens and Ferraris are still in the wings, albeit not quite there on pace with the top two.

The days of Hamilton and Mercedes having such a pace advantage over the rest of the field are gone, and Mercedes is unlikely to unlock much more performance from its W12 with the wholesale changes of the next-generation cars on the horizon for next year.

That means there are a heap of scenarios where Hamilton or Verstappen could hit trouble and be punished heavily. That sort of jeopardy only adds to the drama.

And what if the top two are able to make a break from the rest. What’s the potential for things to get ugly? Well, probably quite high.

In terms characters and driving styles, there are also some distinct familiarities with 1988. Once again we have the boy wonder against the proven old stager, head-to-head for the title. Verstappen actually fits the role of Senna rather well – passionate, fiery and known for his razor’s edge performances. Whereas Hamilton could easily fill the Prost mould, winning races through crushing consistency and superior tactics.

Max takes no prisoners on track. If there’s a gap, he’ll happily chuck a Red Bull into it – as evidenced already this season at turns one in both Imola and Spain where Verstappen happily went wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton, forcing the world champion to cede top spot. Jousting like that in cars that are just fractions of a second apart creates plenty of opportunity for things to get spicy.

Hamilton hasn’t traditionally been one to resort to dirty tactics or mind games, and it’s unlikely that Verstappen will start launching psychological bombs Hamilton’s way either. Both prefer to do their talking on the track, but when push comes to shove neither will want to give an inch when there’s a title on the line.

Who really knows where the next 19 races will take us this year, but it’s clear that the potential is there for the 2021 world championship to go down in memory for all the right reasons.