Perfection needed to beat Red Bull-Verstappen combination, warns F1 champion

Red Bull have won all bar one race this season with Max Verstappen picking up his 14th victory from 17 grands prix on a weekend he also clinched his third world title. 

And 1996 F1 world champion Hill reckons they are a combination that will prove almost impossible to stop. 

"They've got a tall order to match or overturn the Red Bull combination with Max Verstappen driving," he told Sky Sports.

"They have come close to perfection this season, they really have, and they've broken a lot of records that have stood for a long time.

"I think Max is on target to break a record that Jim Clark set back in the '60s which is the percentage of race wins in a season. 

“He's ticked off loads of records this year and they seem unstoppable. So, you need to achieve perfection to be able to beat them.”

Speaking about Verstappen’s achievements, Hill described the Dutchman as a “new breed of driver” as he made comparisons with the great Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. 

“He’s a new breed of driver, or a relatively new breed of driver, whereby he started very young,” Hill explained. 

"In Max’s case, his father was an F1 driver. So he had all that experience of Jos Verstappen coaching him and giving him all the right direction.  

"Michael Schumacher lived at a go-kart track, but his father wasn’t an F1 driver, so he started very young, as did Lewis Hamilton. 

“Max has come from a very early age, coached in the right way to understand what is required. And he’s got the most extraordinary talent, a good head on his shoulders, and he’s matured. 

“He came into F1 aged 17, before he could even drive a road car, and was volatile and quick. He managed to combine the youth and speed with experience now. 

"In the interview he gave at the weekend with Karun Chandhok it was very clear that he’s admitting that he understands now what the job is better. He’s getting better and better.”