Formula 1 news - 'Lewis Hamilton is not God' - Max Verstappen ready to fight for F1 title

The Dutchman enjoyed an encouraging first season for his Red Bull, netting three wins, and now he has his sights on being able to challenge for the world championship this year.

And although main rival Hamilton was in brilliant form last year as he grabbed his sixth F1 title, Verstappen say he does not view the Briton as someone who cannot be defeated.

"Lewis is very good, he is definitely one of the best, but he is not God,” said Verstappen during a Red Bull media event in London. "Maybe God is with him but he's not God. At least when you can put the pressure on them, of course, it's a lot harder for the guy."

"We really want to mount a challenge to especially Mercedes and I think we can do that. “Of course we have to wait and see from testing, but I'm very much looking forward to it. Everybody's fired up. Everybody's very motivated, especially also coming off last year in the end. You know, I think we were very competitive."

The Dutchman also believes that Hamilton can be rattled by being put under more pressure this year, and thinks that his Red Bull team operates to its best when stress levels are high.

“It's under pressure situations like in Brazil, for example, but also some other difficult races like in Germany, that you can see that the team is really excelling compared to the others,” he said.

“So I'm also looking forward to when we get that fight and we are really close, and I'm pretty sure that we can do better.”