Max Verstappen has improved by leaps and bounds in his time in Formula 1 and is being tipped as the next world champion.
Verstappen did have his problems in the first half of the season, as he was being plagued by silly race incidents that were hampering his race weekends.
The young Dutch driver has found his groove in the last few weeks, dishing out super impressive performances in the Red Bull, which doesn’t quite have a package as strong as Mercedes and Ferrari.
Former GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi feels Verstappen is the only driver who can get into Lewis Hamilton’s head, and it is a pity that he does not have a championship ready car.
“He is extremely young, extremely good and extremely arrogant,” he said.
“Although, arrogant may not be the right word.
“He has a lot of self-confidence: ‘I am the best, fuck you’.
“I love that. Max is a killer, always aggressive and very fast. You need that to become champion.
“In my view, Verstappen is the only one who can beat Hamilton. He can cause panic in Lewis’ head.
“It is deadly sin that Max does not have a champion car. Now Hamilton is unbeatable because he has no competition.
“Max is much better than Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas.” he added.
Valsecchi feels Mercedes should be lining Verstappen up as Hamilton’s replacement, as it is only fair that a world champion is replaced by a prospective world champion.
“If I were Mercedes, I would contract Verstappen as Hamilton’s successor: one world champion goes and the other comes. Perfect right?
“And if I was Ferrari and want to challenge Mercedes, I would get Verstappen immediately. Only I do not decide that unfortunately.” he concluded.
