Former Formula 1 driver Luciano Burti has said that Lewis Hamilton is a cleaner driver than Michael Schumacher or Ayrton Senna were as the Briton looks to earn a record-breaking eighth world title this year.

The 'Greatest Of All Time' debate is one that naturally endures in Formula 1 and is always open to debate, given the eras, cars and so much more besides change so much across generations.

It's a widely held belief that the likes of Schumacher, Senna and Hamilton all belong in the discussion, however, and Burti clearly feels of this particular three it is the latter who is the cleanest of all, with him dismissing the crash between the Brit and Max Verstappen at Silverstone as a racing incident.

“As for Hamilton’s fight with Verstappen, I think it’s still clean, that’s my opinion,” he told Motorsport.com.

“By the way, Hamilton, if he has a big difference compared to the great champions – I’ll even talk about Senna, Schumacher – he’s the cleaner among these guys.

“If I’m not mistaken, in 2008, he was a bit messed up, but never to throw anyone off the track.”

Of course, both Senna and Schumacher had their scrapes over the years during their stints in Formula 1, with them both regularly fighting at the sharp end for titles.

It's almost part of the sport when you get such ferociously tight battles for the championship, though, and it seems quite likely that Hamilton and Verstappen will come together at least once more before the prizes are handed out at the end of the campaign.