At the young age of 25, Max Verstappen is already a two-time World Champion. His last two seasons in the sport have been monumental for very different reasons. Verstappen’s 2021 Title win came after a season-long intense battle with Lewis Hamilton, whereas in 2022, he completely dominated the sport.
He has already won more races than the legendary Fernando Alonso, and it is safe to say that he will break more records in the years to come. After the 2022 season, Verstappen appeared for an interview on Viaplay, which also involved his father Jos, and Hamilton’s former teammate Heikki Kovalainen. There, reporter Amber Bransten started the segment by taking a cheeky dig at the drivers other than Verstappen who were present there.
“Gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to have you here at the round table,” she began. “But I have to ask you, we’re sitting here with Max, two-time World Champion. What went wrong with your careers?”
This was a very abrupt question that made the Red Bull driver laugh, but Hamilton’s former teammate Heikki Kovalainen had an answer ready.
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Drivers like Max Verstappen come once in a generation, says Kovalainen
Bransten asked Kovalainen if drivers like Verstappen were from another planet, but the Finn replied by simply stating that he was just unlucky throughout his career. Kovalainen explained how being Hamilton’s teammate never helped him gain confidence or improve as a driver because the 7-time World Champion was much better than him.
“To be fair, he’s one of those guys,” the former McLaren driver said. “That every now and then turns up in Formula 1. We’ve had a few of them in the past, but not many of them. And I’ve seen one guy very close, for two years when I was with Hamilton.
Kovalainen insists that he knows how it feels like to be a teammate of drivers like Hamilton and Verstappen. He praises them for their immense driving talent, but also feels that being on the same team as them is unlucky.
“Unfortunately, it’s as simple as I just couldn’t drive around the track as fast as he did,” he concluded.
Verstappen is currently contracted to drive at Red Bull until at least the 2028 season. If the Austrian team keep providing him with a car that is as strong as the RB18 was in 2022, the Dutchman will surely break almost all records.
