There aren’t many sporting institutions in the world of motor racing like the coveted 24 Hours of Le Mans. Four-time F1 world champion, Max Verstappen has himself hinted on many occasions that he is considering to race at Le Mans in the future, but his most recent title triumph has already caught the eye of the most successful driver in the history of Le Mans.
Tom Kristensen, who is often dubbed as ‘Mr. Le Mans’ for a record-breaking nine wins, has always admired Verstappen. Looking back on his 2024 title defense, the 57-year-old expressed that now was the time that he wanted the Red Bull driver on his team.
“Yes, if we look at the Max Verstappen of the past four years, then this year’s [2024’s] Max is the one I would like to have in my team. There is no doubt about that,” he told F1Maximaal.nl in an exclusive interview.
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The Danish racing driver was in awe of Verstappen’s maturity last season. “He’s learned a lot and won’t get upset when he drives a few bad laps,” he adds whilst regarding the 27-year-old’s 2024 triumph higher than his maiden title win in 2021.
Despite enduring a tough middle part of the season where the Dutchman only won twice in 14 races, he secured his title at the Las Vegas GP with two races to spare. Many would argue that last season, Verstappen proved he was invincible. But Kristensen has a few words of wisdom for his rivals to beat him in 2025.
Verstappen needs a taste of his own medicine
2025 is set to become one of the most competitive grids in the recent history of the sport. But Verstappen still holds the edge over his rivals owing to his aggressive on-track mentality as per Kristensen.
So, he suggests that the likes of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris should fight fire by fire when going wheel-to-wheel with the Dutchman. “If you race against him, you have to be more robust. You have to make sure you don’t go to the side, because you know Max won’t give way anyway,” concluded the former Audi driver.
Kristensen cites Lewis Hamilton to make his point. He believes that the #44 driver was spooked by Verstappen in 2021 — eventually leading to him losing out on his eighth world title.
But 2025 presents the best opportunity for the Briton to make amends as the top three teams are very closely bunched together in terms of performance. And Hamilton is not going to drop the ball in capitalizing his Ferrari’s potential, if they provide him a race-winning car.
