Did Verstappen prove in Japan that he is the GOAT of Formula 1?

A small scream escaped me after Max Verstappen crossed the line. It doesn't happen often, but this was a special lap. You could feel it in everything.

Goosebumps as Max Verstappen truly shows his emotion over the board radio. Not the neutral 'simply lovely' that has been heard for years, but real joy, pride, and pent-up pressure shouted out in one moment. Verstappen's board radio actually said everything about his special lap.

Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, or maybe George Russell. Those were the names for pole position, but certainly not Max Verstappen. With his special lap at Suzuka, where Max has taken pole position in the past three years, he still conquered pole. Not with the best car, not by lucky circumstances. No, simply because he is the best driver in Formula 1.

Max Verstappen after his pole position in Japan

F1 paddock ecstatic about Max Verstappen

Fernando Alonso put it perfectly after the race: ‘’There is currently no other driver who can drive a car and qualify as high as he can. Higher than where he should be. It was a magical moment for everyone here.’’

Alonso has been Verstappen's fan from the beginning, but even the men at McLaren could do nothing but applaud Verstappen. Even Lando Norris and Andrea Stella gave all credits to Verstappen after the race.

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McLaren send 'respect' to Verstappen after 'incredible' lap knocked them off pole position

Alonso amazed at Verstappen's pole lap at Suzuka: 'No one else can do that'

How the paddock reacted to Verstappen perhaps says even more about Verstappen's lap than anything else. Everyone was astonished. And that is impressive, because how can you still be surprised by someone who has already shown so many exceptional things? It turned out he could still do a bit better.

Is Max Verstappen the GOAT?

Personally, I am not a fan of the term GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). It often leads to unnecessary debates about great athletes, while it is much nicer to enjoy all off them. Additionally, it is impossible to compare different generations, as the next generation always learns from the previous. It always gets better.

GOAT or not, Verstappen definitely belongs to the greatest of all time. Make no mistake, he already belonged there before this qualifying session, but this adds another plus to his name.

The performance is truly spectacular when you look at his teammate. It becomes more and more apparent how difficult the car is and how good Max is. Yuki Tsunoda did not have an ideal Q2 and with two sets of fresh soft tires maybe he could have made it, but look at Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Are they suddenly superstars, or is the Racing Bulls car simply better than the RB21? Hadjar was only six tenths slower than Verstappen in Q3. You almost start to wonder how well Max would do in that car….