Helmut Marko defends his comparison of Max Verstappen with Ayrton Senna and says the 2021 World Champion will only get better with time.
In 2017, a young 17-year-old Dutchman named Max Verstappen made his first appearance in F1. He replaced Jean-Éric Vergne at Toro Rosso during FP1 at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen was the youngest person in history to participate in a Formula One race weekend. He was in consideration for the Toro Rosso seat for 2015 and he would claim it starting a long-lasting legacy.
The young Dutchman impressed everyone at that age, and even Mercedes offered him a seat in their Driver academy. But he was destined for the Red Bull seat in which he would win his first F1 Championship in 2021.
8-years from then Verstappen is one of the most feared names in the F1 grid. The Dutchman is dominating the 2022 F1 season, en route to his second Championship crown.
Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marko had spotted talent in Max when he was just 17. Marko stated that time that Max had the calibre to be a World Champion in the future and compared him with the likes of Ayrton Senna.
But comparing a rookie with a 3-time F1 legend caused a stir in the F1 Paddock. Helmut Marko was laughed at for his ‘bizarre’ comparison. He explained why he compared Max so early on with the likes of Senna.
“Max doesn’t need a build-up phase to be at the limit right away. He can go full throttle immediately. That’s just the unbelievable natural talent and the resulting exorbitant basic speed. In addition, he has fantastic vehicle control, especially at the limit.”
“That’s why I compared him to Ayrton Senna in his early years. I didn’t necessarily make friends with that.” But seems like Marko had the last laugh as today it seems more likely that Verstappen would be a multiple future world champion.
Max Verstappen can be even better in the future!
Max Verstappen is on his way to claiming his second F1 title. The Dutchman leads the 2022 championship table by 109 points after claiming his 10th victory of the season in Zandvoort.
Verstappen can equal and even beat Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s record of most wins in a season. This will cement Max’s legacy for ages as one of F1 best drivers.
Therefore Helmut Marko was spot on when he predicted Max’s potential. And no one, even former F1 drivers failed to recognise Max’s talent according to Marko.
He said, “My good friend Gerhard Berger wrote to me at the time that the comparison would be far-fetched. Today he no longer contradicts when Max is compared to Senna.”
He adds, “He’s still a long way from reaching his performance limit. He is still in a learning phase, even if it sounds unbelievable. Max will be even better in the future.”
Verstappen currently has 30 wins across his F1 career. But with just 11 more wins, Verstappen will go past Ayrton Senna’s 41. And Max is just 24 years old!
This means Max has the potential to break plenty of records in F1. Further stating how terrifyingly accurate yet underwhelming Marko’s predictions were.
Also Read: Max Verstappen can win 2nd F1 World Championship as soon as 2022 Singapore GP
