I am Max Verstappen, not Ayrton Senna or Schumi
YOUNG AND EXCITING The Dutch driver wants to carve out his own legacy in Formula One
NEWDELHI: His wet weather skills have had experts compare him to legends like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, but Max Verstappen doesn’t want to be them. He wants to be himself.
The Red Bull driver stormed into the elite club of race winners when he won the 2016 Spanish GP to become the youngest to take chequered flag in F1 history at just 18.
The Dutchman, who is the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, has many ‘young’ records against his name starting with the youngest to compete in F1 -- at the 2015 Australian GP aged just 17 years and 166 days. HT caught up with the 19-year-old to discuss the comparisons with Schumacher and Senna among other things. Excerpts:
Your wet weather skills have had experts compare you to Senna and Schumacher, who were masters in the rain. What are your thoughts on that?
To be honest I would like to be known as myself. I try not to think about those things too much. I am of course happy with the performances in the wet. It is nice to know that people are seeing my skill.
How did the F1 paddock treat you before your remarkable victory in Spain last year and after that?
All good. I mean it was the same afterwards, pretty similar. Yeah, of course, the more you achieve the more they respect you. But for me, at the end of the day, whether they don’t respect me or do, it doesn’t make a difference.
Red Bull is one of the few teams which has two very quick drivers and, allows them to race. What is your opinion of Daniel Ricciardo, as a racing driver, and as a teammate?
He is very quick. He knows when to perform and is very experienced too. And he is a very good teammate. We can have a good laugh, share all the information, which is very good. So I am very happy that he is my teammate.
This year it looks like it is going to be a Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton championship. Who do you think will come out on top?
It is a bit difficult to say because now with the new cars it is all about the development of the car. So whosoever will be the best in that, for sure will win the championship. At the moment I do not know. It is pretty hard to say.
You had a disappointing Sunday in Austria after crashing out on Lap 1 for no fault of yours.
The team is working very hard and I have to try and stay positive. It’s definitely not nice at the moment and I’m very disappointed again but it’s also very important to keep pushing everyone forward as there are many races to go. We just hope that the next race is better. We will try to do better at Silverstone.