Max Verstappen has become a mass phenomenon in Formula 1 since his arrival in the 2015 season. The Dutchman became the youngest driver to debut in the top category of motorsport, as well as the earliest to score points and in achieve a victory, when in the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix he climbed to the top in his debut with Red Bull, with only 18 years, 7 months and 15 days.
From there, the rest is history. The Dutchman established himself in 2021 after reaping his first world title, defeating in the last lap of the final race the almighty Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes, who had covered all the championships since the beginning of the hybrid era, in addition to doing the same in a 2022 in which he has dominated without opposition.
For that reason, people within his team see him like other Formula 1 myths, such as Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko , who compared him to Ayrton Senna himself . The Brazilian is considered one of the best riders to have passed through the Grand Circus, and with his three world championships and his sad ending, he is a legend among fans.
Verstappen, just 25 years old , has already won his second consecutive championship, and still has a valid contract that binds him to the energy drink team until the end of the 2028 campaign, enough time to break many more records. .
However, Marko warns that the Dutchman could leave the category at any time without notice, as breaking the records of others is not something that motivates him too much: “We want to win more titles together, but I doubt we will see Max [ Verstappen] keep racing until he breaks all the records.”
“He can do it,” he told Sport1 . “But he can also pack up and leave when he doesn’t feel like it, no matter what you offer him, he won’t stay if he wants to leave, and that could happen sooner than we all think.”
However, the Austrian advisor praised his driver: “He doesn’t need time or laps to find the limits, he can push immediately, he has a natural talent that allows him to have extraordinary speed.”
“On top of that, he has great control of the car, especially on the limit, which is why I compared him to Ayrton Senna in his early years,” explained Marko. “My good friend Gerhard Berger said at the time that that was exaggeration, but nowadays he doesn’t object to the comparison between Max and Senna.”
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