It's fair to say that Formula One fans were treated to a Lewis Hamilton masterclass on Sunday.

With Red Bull's Max Verstappen continuing his rise towards the top of the F1 tree, he took on Hamilton over the weekend in Hungary, culminating in a brilliant tussle on race day.

Mercedes out-foxed Red Bull in the end, with their two-stop strategy for Hamilton trumping Red Bull's one-stop strategy for Verstappen. On fresher tyres, Hamilton was able to hunt down the Dutchman and pass him with just four laps to go.

With Hamilton denying Verstappen his third win in four races, the Brit extended his already large lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas in the World Championship.

Hamilton's former teammate Nico Rosberg also had his fair share of duels with Hamilton when they were both at Mercedes. Having quit the sport, the German now does some punditry and posts his reaction on his YouTube blog after races.

He recently controversially claimed that Verstappen is actually better than Hamilton, and also alleged that Hamilton was exaggerating just how ill he was during the German Grand Prix weekend.

Not only that, the German also believes if the two were ever in the same car, it would be the youngster who'd come out on top.

The five-time world champion has brushed off Rosberg's criticism, however.

“I’ve never seen the blog. It has no influence on my life,” Hamilton said after the race in Budapest, as per GPFans.

“Whether he’s right or wrong doesn’t interest me, although he has the right to his opinion. But I think my records and results basically speak for themselves.

“There are always people who did not have the success that I did who want to talk, but that’s ok.

“I once read a book and it said when people talk bad about you, don’t take it personally because they’re actually talking about themselves.”

With Hamilton turning 35 this year, he also shut down any speculation that his fitness is dropping, with reference to his sickness in Germany.

“I feel great,” he confirmed.

“I’m still fit. Maybe not fitter than ever because I was sick a week ago, but I wanted to come back strongly this weekend and I succeeded.

“I am 34, but I feel like I’m doing better than ever.”

The form book would suggest that Hamilton is right, and that he has enough to hold off Verstappen's challenge for now.

Debates over which driver is the best are always hard to settle given that they can operate in such different cars - just look at the respect that Fernando Alonso had within the paddock when he was racing in a massively under-performing McLaren car.

So if Verstappen and Hamilton never become teammates, we may just never know. But like the Ronaldo vs Messi debate in football, maybe we should just appreciate that we're lucky to have two such talented competitors in the same sport at the same time.