Only the most committed contrarian would argue that Lewis Hamilton hasn't been the class of the Formula 1 field this season. No driver has come close to delivering his consistent pace, sound judgement and killer instinct on race day during 2018 - except perhaps one.
To be more precise, we should say four-fifths of a driver. Max Verstappen has performed superbly since the first half-dozen races of the season, when he closely resembled a premium Pastor Maldonado - brilliantly fast but with a self-defeating streak that cost him two potential victories. 'Mad Max', as some rather predictably dubbed him, was all over the place. After the first 28% or so of the campaign, he's performed superbly.
The 21-year-old has spent much of the rest of the year insisting, emphatically, that he was not changed his approach one iota. During a memorable press conference at the Canadian Grand Prix, he joked he would "headbutt someone" if asked one more question about how he had responded to the errors. At least, it seemed like a joke...