MONTMELO, Spain -- Lewis Hamilton thinks Max Verstappen has the potential to win Formula One world championships and says the Red Bull driver is already racing at a higher level than he was at the same age.
Verstappen became the youngest driver to take part in an F1 race when he made his debut with Toro Rosso in2015 at the age of 17 years and 166 days. Over the past three seasons he has been promoted to Red Bull and won three races with the former four-time world champions and now starts his fourth season in the sport at just 20 years of age.
When Hamilton was asked if Verstappen had the potential to match his current record of four world championships, the Mercedes driver said: "I think it is very difficult to say, he definitely has the potential to be a world champion as we've all seen that and that is why he has such a great following.
"We've seen the way he drives and he has great potential and is in a great team. I think he is in the perfect place to continue growing. He has a long time ahead of him even with a good few seasons under his belt. I still hadn't even had my first season at 21 so he is even further ahead than me and a lot of the drivers.
"While I'm here I am going to be doing what I can to stop him winning. People won't particularly love that but that is what we are here to do, we are here to battle and I am looking forward to having some really positive battles with him -- hopefully this year."
Despite completing just 94 laps in his first week of testing the new Mercedes W09, Hamilton says he is ready to go racing as soon as possible. Cold conditions limited meaningful running for all teams during the opening week of pre-season testing, but Hamilton wants to get the competitive part of the year underway as soon as possible.
"We could go to Melbourne now and go for it -- I want to race to be honest," he said. "In testing there is no competition and that is what I miss when you have that long, long break you just can't wait to get back to that competitive atmosphere that is Formula One -- there is nothing quite like it.
"So when you come to testing it is fun for the first half a day to get into the car and afterwards you say, ''OK, let's go'. Hopefully next week we get plenty of running."