Throughout his F1 career, Max Verstappen has often been defined as either ‘aggressive’ or a ‘fighter’. While in the media he has been vilified because of this from time to time, former Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa believes this on-track persona is integral to his championship success. Reminiscing about his own F1 career, the 43-year-old mulled over what could have been if he had himself adopted the Dutchman’s mantra to go motor racing.
Contrasting his own approach to F1 as against Verstappen’s, Massa believes he was too nice when it mattered. “I was sometimes too nice, too kind,” he said as quoted by Formule1.nl.
Talking about Verstappen, however, Massa was full of praise. “Max drives aggressively, on the limit and sometimes a bit over it. Lando has less of that. For me, Max is clearly number one. I personally like his mentality,” he added.
Felipe Massa: “Max (Verstappen) is a complete driver. He has everything, in terms of speed and mentality. He is a huge fighter. For him, everything revolves around racing, everything else doesn’t interest him.”
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) November 18, 2024
Massa could have been referring to the wing-man roles he had adopted at Ferrari during Michael Schumacher’s reign. The German racing driver was the clear number one in the team and the Brazilian did not do enough to stamp his own authority.
In 2008, when he had a clear shot at the title, he lost out to Lewis Hamilton by the smallest of margins. After that, he never really was the lead driver at Ferrari when Fernando Alonso came to the team in 2010 and challenged for the championship in two seasons.
Owing to his 2008 loss, Massa feels that his persona resembles a lot to Lando Norris at the moment. That said, the 43-year-old is of the opinion that the British racing driver’s number is on the up.
Norris could be a serious title contender in 2025, says Massa
After the Brazilian GP, Norris is virtually out of running for the title this season. There have been many pitfalls in the Briton’s campaign this season but Massa believes it is because this is the first time that the McLaren driver has been put in such a situation.
Despite seeing cracks in the #4 driver’s performances and mentality, Massa strongly believes that Norris could be a threat to Verstappen in the years to come. “You can see that he is changing. He [Norris] is getting tougher. In other words, he is learning. So next year or the year after that it might be different,” he explained.
Going into the 2024 Las Vegas GP, however, Norris has a very slim chance of dragging the title fight to Qatar. If he fails to finish at least three points ahead of Verstappen, then, the Red Bull driver will be crowned world champion for the fourth-consecutive time on the iconic Vegas Strip this weekend.
