Lewis Hamilton is no longer the driver he once was according to Jeremy Clarkson, who also claimed Max Verstappen might be the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time.
Verstappen took a giant step towards a fourth consecutive World Championship last weekend in Brazil, triumphing from 17th on the grid.
The Red Bull driver now holds a 62-point lead over Lando Norris ahead of the final three races of the F1 2024 season in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Another title success would see Verstappen become only the second driver in F1 history - after Red Bull icon Sebastian Vettel, who dominated between 2010 and 2013 - to win his first four World Championships in successive years.
Verstappen's devastating performance in Brazil came on a weekend Hamilton - the most decorated driver in history with a joint-record seven titles and more than 100 grand prix wins and pole positions to his name - struggled to get a tune out of his Mercedes.
Hamilton failed to reach Q3 in qualifying for both the sprint and main races, with the Mercedes driver struggling to a distant 10th in a race in which team-mate George Russell started on the front row and led the early stages.
Russell has started ahead of his illustrious team-mate at 16 of the 21 races held to date in F1 2024, not including sprint qualifying sessions.
Hamilton, who will turn 40 in January, announced earlier this year that he will join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from F1 2025, extending his career into a 19th season.
Writing in his column for The Sun newspaper, Clarkson claimed that Hamilton is now "too old" to perform at his peak, with Verstappen potentially emerging as the greatest driver in F1 history.
He said: "We learned two important things during last weekend's Grand Prix in Brazil.
"Well, three, if you count Lance Stroll, who crashed his freshly repaired car on the formation lap.
"And then drove it into a gravel trap.
"First of all, Max Verstappen is one of the all-time greats.
"He may even be the greatest driver we've ever seen.
"And second, Lewis Hamilton is past his prime.
"He blamed his car for his tail-end qualifying session but his team mate, George Russell, was on the front row.
"Of course it's possible that because Lewis is moving to Ferrari next year, the team are filling his fuel tank with lemon barley water instead of petrol.
"But that seems unlikely.
"It's far more probable that he's now too old."
