Lewis Hamilton has said he’s impressed by youngsters Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, and hopes to enjoy a closer battle with them going forward.

While the Brit has battled the two on track, neither has had a strong enough car to consistently challenge Hamilton in the Championship.

This has briefly changed in recent times however in the case of Max Verstappen, who has won two of the last four races and enjoyed a titanic fight with Hamilton in Hungary.

“We’ve seen a big step with Red Bull. They’ve really taken a leap forward with their [Honda] power unit this year and it’s pretty great to see”, Hamilton said to the official Formula 1 website.