Is Verstappen really the best driver on the grid? 'Difficult question'
F1 News
- Savannah Lenz
Max Verstappen has proven himself to be an exceptional driver in recent years. In four years, he won four titles and 53 races. This, according to many people, has put him in a lineup of the most iconic Formula 1 drivers ever. Romain Grosjean, however, thinks it's difficult to weigh in on such matters.
Verstappen the best driver on the F1 grid?
On The F1 Nation podcast, Grojean says, "That's a tough question [whether Verstappen is the best driver on the grid], isn't it? He is definitely one of the very best ever. There are no doubts about Max's ability to drive a car fast in every condition. Saying he is the best is difficult because you are only the best if you also have the best car."
Nevertheless, he does say, "He's definitely an incredible driver, no matter what car he's driving. I think his strengths are that he always finds a 100% pure, 100% of the grip he has, no matter if it's raining, if it's cold, if it's hot, if it's new tires, if it's old tires. Well, maybe some other drivers are sometimes 90%, some other time 105%, it seems that with Max you never even [fall to] 99.90. You always [get]100.0%."
Grosjean on Red Bull's dominating era
It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will be as successful this season as it has been in recent years. The team did not seem to be the strongest during the test days, and for now, McLaren appears to be the team to beat.
According to Grosjean, it is not surprising that Red Bull has not been as dominant for a while as in previous years: "They've been winning for a very long time, they've been competitive for a very long time. But like everyone, they were super successful between 2010 and 2013, and then they went through a bit of a more difficult path, and then Mercedes took over, and Mercedes went through a more difficult path.
"Now it seems that McLaren is taking over and Red Bull is maybe going to [tread] that difficult path again. You can't stay at the top of your game all the time. I think that there are regulation changes, new people coming, but, you're right, they lost some very big names."
He concludes, "I truly believe as well that they have it covered, they have still Pierre Waché there. There was a lot of very intelligent and brilliant engineers [there already]."
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.
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