Isack Hadjar brands Lewis Hamilton "best F1 driver" but Ayrton Senna "the fastest"

Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar has discussed the differences between two of his Formula 1 idols, Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna.

Although he described Hamilton as the "best driver of all time," the French-Algerian driver claimed Senna was the "fastest of all time."

"If you look at [Hamilton] until last year on Sundays," Hadjar explained on the Beyond The Grid podcast. "For me, it's all about his race pace - like how he can start from the very back and end up racing George, you know, and fighting him when he’s starting 18th and George is starting ahead. It's just this race pace advantage he had on his team-mates.

"When he was with Valtteri as well, the way he was overtaking and when he was in the pack, he was always having this different approach. His different lines, avoiding dirty air.

"If there's like this train of DRS cars and everyone is within, say, six-tenths gap between each other, he would have a three-tenths gap to the car ahead of him. I think his Sunday drive is… yeah, mighty."

While the Racing Bulls driver shared his admiration for Hamilton's race pace, he claimed Senna was "the fastest driver of all time," as proven by his incredible qualifying performances.

"Senna, for me, is the fastest driver of all time," Hadjar continued. "I think the best driver of all time is Lewis Hamilton - the best Formula 1 driver - the whole package. But the fastest is definitely Ayrton. Whether it’s rain, dry, or mixed conditions, it's Ayrton Senna."

Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Hadjar introduced a Senna-inspired helmet for the Monaco Grand Prix this year as a way to pay homage to one of his favourite drivers in the sport.

"Yeah, I think kids my age - that's the only thing we had really: documentaries, films, clips on YouTube," Hadjar continued, speaking about how his admiration of the Brazilian F1 icon began. "And just with that small amount… he was my idol growing up."

He added, "I discovered Senna with that one [the documentary 10 years ago]. I was like six, and I didn’t know he died. I didn’t know who Senna was. So I was learning his story through the documentary. And when he died, I was completely broken."