Flavio Briatore has made some bold calls in his time, but his latest take on the current F1 grid is proper spicy. The Alpine boss reckons there are only two drivers who stand head and shoulders above everyone else right now, and sorry Lewis Hamilton, you're not in that conversation. According to Briatore, Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli are the only two competitors who are in a league of their own talent-wise. That's right, the seven-time world champion gets left on the bench while a young Mercedes driver who's been getting pelted with questions about his F1 readiness just a year ago is put on a pedestal.

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Speaking to Corriere della Sera, Briatore didn't hold back when asked who he'd want to win with next. "There are two drivers who are a bit better than the rest," he said, before naming Verstappen and Antonelli as his picks. Now, Briatore knows what he's talking about when it comes to championing talent, having steered Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to world titles in the past. But here's the kicker: he also acknowledged that even having the best driver doesn't guarantee results. "You always need a winning car," he pointed out. "Max manages to achieve sensational results with a Red Bull that's less competitive than the Mercedes, but he can't quite manage to win."

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What's really interesting is Briatore's take on Antonelli's maturity and potential. He's convinced that only Antonelli can lose the championship now, describing the young Italian as solid and capable of defining an era. He also gave a massive shoutout to Toto Wolff for the Mercedes boss's work with the driver, though he made it clear that raw talent was the real foundation. "You need the raw talent, and Antonelli has plenty of it," Briatore said.

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All this comes after Briatore himself admitted he was wrong about Antonelli's F1 readiness not too long ago. He's even compared the Mercedes star to Valentino Rossi following Antonelli's Monaco victory, which tells you everything you need to know about how much the Alpine chief's opinion has shifted. Fair play to the lad for eating humble pie when the evidence demands it.

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