Max Verstappen isn't Lewis Hamilton's best F1 opponent...but who did he choose instead?

Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso stand next to Lewis Hamilton — Photo: © IMAGO

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Max Verstappen isn't Lewis Hamilton's best opponent...but who did he choose instead?

Lewis Hamilton named his best opponent

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 15 November 2025 09:58

Lewis Hamilton has faced some tough opponents throughout his F1 career but named a surprise star as the best.

Fernando Alonso. Heikki Kovalainen. Jenson Button. Nico Rosberg. Valtteri Bottas. George Russell. Charles Leclerc. Hamilton has faced many worthy opponents during his career in F1, with all of these star names racing in the same car as him at a particular point of his career.

Amongst his team-mates are three world champions, and all of Hamilton’s nearest competitors have won a grand prix across their careers.

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So, you’d think with such illustrious company, Hamilton would name one of his former team-mates as his best F1 opponent.

In actual fact, the likes of Alonso, Button and Rosberg were all snubbed, alongside his main adversary during the 2021 title fight and now four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

Who does Hamilton think his best F1 opponent was?

Verstappen has proven himself worthy to be included in the list of the greatest racers of all time, with the Dutchman driving a sub-par Red Bull to five victories in 2025, while also winning on his GT3 race debut.

Yet, Hamilton still did not name Verstappen as the best opponent he has ever gone up against in F1, with the Brit instead naming a driver from a rivalry going a little further back.

Speaking to Matheus Gonze in a video posted on Instagram, Hamilton was asked a series of quick fire questions such as ‘Messi or Ronaldo’, to which the champion chose the Argentinian.

Hamilton naturally also answered Ayrton Senna when asked who he believed to be the greatest driver in F1 history, and the time came to eventually choose his best opponent.

"It’s difficult," Hamilton admitted. "But I’m going to say Sebastian [Vettel]."

Hamilton and Vettel vied for the title in 2017 and 2018, where the pair were a little less friendly than the terms they find themselves on of late.

While Hamilton eventually emerged victorious from both title fights, the pair pushed each other in both seasons with the infamous 'He brake tested me' controversy emerging from the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Today, Hamilton and Vettel have a much improved relationship, with the seven-time world champion revealing he still talks to the German, and the pair recently reunited at the Brazilian GP.

Speaking to the media in Sao Paulo, Hamilton further complimented Vettel, who retired from F1 at the end of the 2022 season, and said: "I mean, I'm always supporting Seb.

"He's the only driver that I'm aware of, other than myself, that ever actually talks about important topics and fights for... he's aware of the bigger picture."

F1 Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel