Eddie Jordan has claimed Lewis Hamilton must beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in order to be considered as one of the sport's greats.

Hamilton currently stands second in the F1 table nine points adrift of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who leads the way having won the opening two races.

Bottas is one place behind Hamilton, having beaten the Brit in the two of the three races so far this season, leaving Jordan to question whether the four-time world champion can be deemed an all-time great of the track.

Jordan told Express Sport: “What is surprising me is that Bottas is right there with him this year and if we’re talking about the greatest driver that Britain has seen or one of the great, great drivers, he should be beating his team-mate.

Despite Jordan’s initial scepticism, the Irishman tipped Hamilton to bounce back from his winless opening start to the season.

He said: “My guess is that we mustn’t overplay [these problems] because in two or three races’ time Lewis is going to settle down and iron out all the problems with the car.

“He did say that the car was nowhere near where he wanted it to be. He has a great ability of bouncing back.

“I have no doubt that he’s going to win the championship and I think that Mercedes will win the championship.”

Hamilton helped Mercedes reach a fourth consecutive world championship last year, with the Brit also adding to his three previous titles.

However, Mercedes have failed to win any of the opening three races for the first time, with Hamilton’s team not being helped by software glitches and tyre problems.

Despite these problems and no win in three, Mercedes claim a competitive season will help motivate their team. However, Jordan does not buy these claims.

“The team are saying that they enjoy the duel and the battle: that’s nonsense. They want to win it easy. That’s what everyone wants,” Jordan continued.

“They don’t want to be under pressure.

“They talk about a nice job, about pumping up for the Grands Prix, but Mercedes set out to build by far the best car that they can with the best engine and the best driver line-up.

“If they’re being beaten, they may say they enjoy the fight but I don’t believe a word of it."

“They would like it nice and cushy and would like to have three wins under their belt already and that is not the case.”

Hamilton and his Mercedes team have now turned their attention to the Azerbaijan GP which takes place on Sunday.