‘Too old and past his prime’ - Jeremy Clarkson’s brutal Lewis Hamilton verdict

Lewis Hamilton has been brutally labelled as “too old” and “past his prime” by Jeremy Clarkson.

The seven-time F1 world champion endured a miserable weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Having failed to score in the sprint race, Hamilton went on to suffer a shock Q1 elimination in qualifying for the main grand prix.

Hamilton could only recover to 10th to claim the final point on offer and criticised the performance of his Mercedes car throughout the weekend. In contrast, teammate George Russell qualified second and finished fourth.

Hamilton’s performance caught the attention of presenter and former Top Gear star Clarkson, who praised Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following his stunning comeback victory from 17th.

Clarkson also had a dig at Aston Martin's Lance Stroll following his crash on the formation lap. 

“We learned two important things during last weekend’s Grand Prix in Brazil,” Clarkson wrote in his column for The Sun.

“Well, three, if you count Lance Stroll, who crashed his freshly repaired car on the formation lap. And then drove it into a gravel tap.

“First of all, Max Verstappen is one of the all-time greats. He may even be the greatest driver we’ve ever seen.

"And second, Lewis Hamilton is past his prime. He blamed his car for his tail-end qualifying session but his team mate, George Russell, was on the front row.

"Of course it’s possible that because Lewis is moving to Ferrari next year, the team are filling his fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol. But that seems unlikely.

"It’s far more probable that he’s now too old.”

Verstappen’s win has put him on the brink of sealing a fourth straight world title, which he can clinch at the next race in Las Vegas.

The Dutchman holds a 62-point lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris with three races remaining.

Hamilton, meanwhile, sits seventh in the championship, two points behind Russell.