Max Verstappen speaks out on Lewis Hamilton's three-word worrying confession

An equally impressive victory at Spa followed that, but it's all been downhill for Hamilton since then.

He's struggled to compete even when Mercedes have been competitive and has been out-qualified by George Russell on several occasions.

After qualifying seventh for the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint, Hamilton said he is 'not fast anymore'.

He added: "I'm just slow. Same every weekend. Car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say."

But Verstappen, who clinched his fourth consecutive world title in Las Vegas last week, feels Hamilton is being too harsh on himself.

"It has been tough for him to get motivated fully this year because he knows he is leaving the team," Verstappen said.

"I felt like as soon as he had that competitive car, and there was a chance of winning, you could see that he really stepped up.

"Then there were some races where the car was difficult and he was like 'whatever'.

"I don't think he will ever lose it. He has achieved so much.

"It is a new challenge for him next year. He will be very, very motivated to show he is a seven-time world champion.

"But it will depend on the material he has got."

The Qatar Grand Prix is Hamilton's penultimate race weekend with Mercedes before he makes the switch to Ferrari.

There was some speculation on whether Hamilton would get an early test run in a Ferrari at the post-season testing in Abu Dhabi.

But Hamilton revealed earlier this week that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff blocked that from happening due to contract obligations.

“Look, I know Fred wanted it to happen. For me, I was into two minds,” Hamilton said.

“Driving the red car for the first time in Abu Dhabi does not excite me.

“In a perfect world, you would get to drive it and not be seen, and do the first roll out next year.

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“When I did raise it, obviously, with Toto, they had all these plans that I’ve got to go and see some of the sponsors, and say the farewells.

“So I don’t think it was ever going to actually be allowed, even if I had asked to have done it, but because I’m contracted to the team until December 31st, and that’s totally fine.

“But it doesn’t bother me, again, because I wasn’t going to do the test. It’s not what I wanted to do – I told Fred, that’s not what I was going to do.

“Am I missing out something? For sure, [it] definitely delays the process and makes the start of the year harder, but we’ll do our best to recover it.”