Verstappen hails 'incredible' Hamilton for matching Schumacher's win feat

Max Verstappen says Lewis Hamilton equalling Michael Schumacher’s Formula 1 win record of 91 is ‘incredible and very impressive’ after being beaten to the win by the Mercedes driver at the Eifel Grand Prix.

Despite missing out on pole position to Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton made amends in the race capitalising on a mistake from the Finn to take the victory at the Nurburgring - his 91st, moving him level with Schumacher’s record tally.

When asked about Hamilton’s achievement in the post-race press conference, Verstappen was full of praise and suspects the Briton’s success will not end with just 91 wins and six titles.

“Simply lovely, Verstappen said. “It’s an incredible achievement because I think like Lewis already said, 91 wins… everyone thought that was almost impossible to reach.

“To be there now himself, it’s incredible and very impressive, and I am pretty sure there will be some more victories coming his way and probably also championships. Just very impressive and hard to beat.“

On the back of his first podium since 2018, Daniel Ricciardo also heaped praise on Hamilton for his consistency and his performances “year on year”.

“Tip of the hat, at the very least, I don’t think that’s enough,” Ricciardo added. “I mean 91… even 91 races. You’re talking five years? Nearly five years worth of races, four and a half. That gives perspective on how much success Lewis has now had, obviously Michael as well.

“To do it week in week out as well and year on year, his career has been well over a decade now in the sport and to keep coming back and show that level of consistency at the front, that’s also not easy and us up here understand that.

“You can have a package and car to do it but doing it every weekend when the lights go out, it’s easier said than done. Certainly, big respect and I think also the gift that he received - one of Michael’s helmets, that’s one of the coolest gifts I’ve seen in the sport so that was really nice to see that today.”