“I’ll tell you that is perfect, because the best young driver of all of Formula 1 at the moment is Max Verstappen. There is no question about it.

“His style, his speed, his intellect, his control on the track. Also his arrogance. And Grand Prix winners and Grand Prix champions need a level of arrogance. That is obvious. And he has that.

“Whether he got it from Jos or whatever, I have no real idea, but the facts are that he has an unbelievable talent. And what I believe is if he had a teammate like Lewis Hamilton, then I do believe he would be able to beat him.”

But Verstappen doesn’t think Hamilton would even entertain the idea of leaving Mercedes.