Verstappen felt a connection with Johan Cruyff: 'We just clicked'

With Max Verstappen's enormous successes, comparisons are increasingly being drawn between the Formula 1 world champion and football great Johan Cruyff. The two compatriots have many similarities, especially when it comes to their talent. For years, the Amsterdam revolutionary dominated his sport with fantastic actions and new ways of playing and is hailed by connoisseurs as one of the best footballers ever. The Limburg racer could become the greatest ever in motorsport, according to many. According to Max Verstappen, the two had a click.

During winter testing in Barcelona in 2016, the two Dutchmen met on the track. Cruyff stopped by to meet the up-and-coming racing talent."We had a very nice conversation," Verstappen says. The legendary footballer died later that year from lung cancer. "We knew that he was very sick. He was so keen to understand the world of F1 and I think he was very proud to have a Dutchman in F1 and maybe the next big thing, a hopeful." The two exchanged stories about each other's sports.

A click between Verstappen and Cruyff

Cruijff's death chopped into the then 18-year-old Verstappen."You keep on relishing those moments," says the two-time world champion. "He was way older than me, but somehow we clicked — the way we were communicating." A few months later, Verstappen recorded his first Formula 1 victory in Johan Cruyff's Barcelona, in the region where the footballer stirred Spanish football fans to tears of happiness, wearing his iconic number 14. The Red Bull driver won the race with a time of 1:41:40. "For me, something like that — it can’t be coincidence. It’s very crazy that that has happened," said Verstappen. The Limburger also sees a similarity in the talent of the two, he told The Times in the same interview.