Hamilton: 'All my teammates were better than Max's'

A day after Lewis Hamilton extended his contract at Mercedes for two seasons, the psychological war towards Max Verstappen has resumed. The seven-time world champion believes he has always had better teammates than Verstappen. Anyone reading between the lines would think: Hamilton rates his own performance higher than Verstappen's.

Shortly before the first free practice session at Monza, Hamilton told Sky Sports: "The narrative, that goes through the media… you know when I qualified half a second, six tenths ahead of Valtteri, they didn't say the same thing as they say today when Max qualifies six tenths ahead of Perez - it's blown up much more," Hamilton mused.

'Bottas stronger than all teammates Verstappen'

"IAnd in my personal opinion, Valtteri, and actually all my team-mates, have been stronger than the team-mates that Max has had. Jenson [Button], Fernando [Alonso], George [Russell], Valtteri… Nico [Rosberg] - I've had so many. These guys have all been very consistent, and Max has not raced against anyone like that," the Mercedes driver concluded.

Martin Brundle, Sky Sports analyst reacted 'surprised' to Hamilton's statements. "He’s not going to give Max an ounce of oxygen, or anything, to big him up. Surprised just how hard he was there. Yes, of course, Lewis has had some strong team-mates but I wouldn’t write off the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez who Max has had alongside him either. They’re world-class racing drivers. But Lewis just doesn’t want to give anything away, does he."