'In identical cars Hamilton would beat Verstappen in the last five races'

Former Williams and Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley believes Lewis Hamilton would beat Max Verstappen in the title race if they were driving identical cars. Smedley thinks Red Bull Racing have had the better car all season, but he backs Hamilton for the win.

In the F1 Nation Podcast Rob Smedley gives his thoughts on the title race. With just five races to go this season, there are still plenty of points up for grabs. Smedley is backing Hamilton in the battle for the title. "I’ve got to go with Lewis because he’s done it seven times before. Now, that’s not to take anything away from Max, because Max is a once-in-a-generation talent, but I think that Lewis has learned more of his craft than Max – just like anybody, he’s just been doing it longer than Max."

"He’s done it seven times before, so if they were in identical cars with identical tyres and all the rest of it for the five remaining races, I would still back Lewis at this point in time.”

'Red Bull didn't get enough out of it'

Smedley believes Red Bull have generally had a better car than Mercedes and have failed to capitalise on the significant advantage at the start of the season. "If I was going to go for car, I would go for the Red Bull,” he explained. “I think it’s a slightly better car and it has been a better car all season. I read something over the weekend where Helmut Marko said that Max has given away 50 points or something like that. Now, I don’t know whether that’s true. If you take the races where he hasn’t finished, it might not be a net 50 points compared to Lewis, but it’s certainly quite a few points that he’s given away."

"I think they’ve had the best car since, I think they had a significantly better car at the start of the season. They’ve probably, I think it’s fair to say, failed to capitalise on that but as the season has gone on they’ve still kept that small advantage. It’s swung Mercedes’ way on occasions but overall they’ve still had the best car," Smedley says.