Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg has said that the current rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is one of the best to ever grace the sport.

Their competitiveness took another sharp turn at Silverstone last weekend as a collision between Formula 1’s top two drivers sent Verstappen to the hospital.

Hamilton and Verstappen’s rivalry has constantly been compared to that of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, which began in the late 1980s.

Rosberg, who was also a close competitor of Hamilton’s during his career, spoke to talkSPORT about Hamilton-Verstappen:

“I think it will go down as one of those great rivalries. It reminds me of my rivalry with Lewis as well in the intensity.

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“It will go down as one of the greats because Lewis is the best of all time and Max is the star of the next generation.

“It will be a beautiful battle.

“The cool part is that you don’t know who is going to win the next race or win the championship. That’s why we are all going to be glued to our televisions.

“It is going to be so intense, especially after what happened at Silverstone. The intensity is ramped up.”

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The now-retired German also gave his thoughts on the collision at Silverstone: “The whole lap they were going to the absolute limit. It is so important to come out of the first lap first and you can really solidify your win.

“They were giving everything, on the edge, and it was just a racing incident.

“When you are on the limit like that, a touch is going to happen at some point. As long as we then saw Max was uninjured, beyond that it has been thrilling to watch as a fan.”

Rosberg’s last hoorah in F1 was beating Hamilton to clinch the 2016 Drivers’ Championship. During retirement, Rosberg has become a sustainability entrepreneur as well as a Formula E investor.