According to the managing director, motor sports and technical director, Hamilton has overtaken Michael Schumacher in setting a new benchmark of winning for the sport.

Brawn was the technical director for Ferrari during their six consecutive world championship wins, with Schumacher driving the manufacturer to victory for five of those titles.

Schumacher was at the top of the competition for a number of years, and was always the driver to beat on the track.

More recently, the British driver for Mercedes has dominated the sport the past few years, and as a result equalled Schumacher’s record of seven world championship wins during this past season.

Furthermore, Hamilton has broken more records in the sport, including race wins and number of podium finishes – both previously held by the German driver.

On the F1 Nation podcast, Brawn was a guest on the show, giving an incite to his career as well as his thoughts on the latest drivers.

When asked about the driver rankings for the end of season, Brawn had no hesitation placing Hamilton on top.

He said: “It has to be Lewis, and I say has to be in the sense that he has set a new benchmark in terms of world championships”.

Brawn added: “I think it’s very easy for people to assume that he had the best car. It’s an easy exercise and it’s far from the case. He definitely won races he shouldn’t have won.

“We think of Turkey, probably the most difficult race of the year, and he sat there quietly getting on with it until the opportunity came and there he was in the pound seat and he won the race”.

For those who aren’t aware, Hamilton started the Istanbul Grand Prix in the third row of the starting grid, and went on to win with a stand-out performance.

Brawn also made comments on the podcast regarding rising F1 talent Max Verstappen, who he deemed as 'unlucky' this season.

He said:

“He was pretty unlucky this year, I have to say. There were a couple of times the car didn’t quite perform, and he got caught up in accidents that were not his fault and we were deprived of seeing some great races from him”.