Red Bull driver Max Verstappen told Dutch tv channel Ziggo Sport that over half of the F1 drivers would win a championship if they raced for Mercedes.

After the 2019 season ended with Mercedes becoming the first team to win six world championship doubles in succession, during the modern V6 hybrid, Verstappen is adamant that it's the car that's getting the success, rather than the drivers.

This success was with Lewis Hamilton winning his sixth title, propelling himself to second on the all-time list, just behind Michael Schumacher’s seven championships.

Verstappen had his best year to date in Formula One, with the Dutchman finishing third in the final rankings, only behind the two Mercedes drivers.

However, he is convinced that most of the field would win the championship if they were in that car.

“That’s because it’s purely down to the car,” Verstappen told Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport, as per Read Motorsport..

Sixty per cent of the grid, if they are in a Mercedes, they also would become world champion.

“I also have the confidence to say that if I would have been in that car, it also would have happened like that.”

As he heads into his final year of his Red Bull contract, Verstappen has been heavily linked with moves to fellow rivals Ferrari and Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc, the young superstar driver for Ferrari, is contracted until 2022, so Verstappen would teammate him if he decided to leave the Austrian outfit.

However, when asked about this, Verstappen shut down the rumours.

“I think that won’t happen anyway. I think that you shouldn’t have two potential number ones driving next to each other,” Verstappen said.

When asked if that would subsequently rule off a move to Mercedes, the 22-year-old again seemed unsure about whether partnering Hamilton was a possibility.

“Well, who knows? At the moment I don’t think about this too much.

“In the end it’s always about what the team thinks. I can have an opinion about it, he can have an opinion about it. But in the end, they decide what happens. So, we’ll see.”

Whatever is said about the strength of Mercedes, nothing can take away from Hamilton’s achievements, but can Verstappen or co. stop the Brit winning a seventh title in 2020?