Hill explains difference between 'good' and 'really good' drivers

Damon Hill sees an abundance of outstanding talent in Formula 1 but insists there's a difference between the "good guys" on the grid and the "really good" drivers.

Max Verstappen's coronation as F1's 2021 world champion is a first for a member of Grand Prix racing's younger generation and confirm a changing of the guard that has been long underway.

While Hill sees "a box" of great young drivers currently in F1, the 1996 F1 world champion still considers there to be two levels of talent on the grid that separate the good from the great.

"People have definitely thought [Pierre] Gasly was a class act this year, if he wasn't already," Hill said on the latest F1 Nation podcast.

"You can have a box of guys who you think are 'really good'. But the difference between those guys and the likes of Lewis and Max is they are stellar good.

"When they arrive, they just blow everyone's minds."

But Hill highlighted the importance of opportunity and of a driver's ability to make the most of any chances that one is given and too sustain a high level of performance.

"You can grow into a great driver, and you need an opportunity, of course," he said.

"Don't forget, Nigel [Mansell] took years and years to become World Champion.

• Read also: Verstappen heads 2021 poll of F1 bosses' top 10 drivers

"But that's the level, it is a measure of the level of talent we have in F1 at the moment through the field.

"There is just astonishingly good, accomplished, and fast [drivers], and they just need a crack at the front to find out what they've really got.

"Whether they can take this championship battle like we've just seen, whether they could sustain that for an entire season... that's really the difference between good guys, and really good guys."

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