- Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is more brutal than Lewis Hamilton ever was
- He not only wins but destroys all his competitors
- Verstappen won his first world title championship in 2021
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is more brutal than Lewis Hamilton ever was and his intention is to wipe out any competition, Tom Clarkson and FIA conference moderator says.
Clarkson says Hamilton, a reigning seven-time champion never brought such ruthlessness to Formula One.
Verstappen won his first world title championship in 2021 and followed it up in 2022. By the look of things, he is also in it in 2023 as Hamilton battles with his W14 design issues hurdling his performance.
After the first three races of 2023, the Dutch driver has a 15-point lead over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and is the clear favourite to win three consecutive championships.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast by Damon Hill, a World Champion in 1996, Clarkson said Verstappen is specially gifted whenever speed is mentioned.
Max Verstappen. Photo by Planet F1
This makes him formidably competitive which is what sets him apart from many other F1 drivers.
“He’s bloody quick, right? That is a given. But I have never met a racing driver who is so hungry for success as Max Verstappen,” Clarkson stated.
Hill remarked that Verstappen’s father Jos’ influence is clear in his son’s ambitions whenever he is on the tracks. Jos races in 106 grand prix races between 1994 and 2003, and he has used this to influence his son.
The veteran F1 driver now a podcast host said that Verstappen adopted a mindset that the legendary Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna had.
The desire for success, he remarked, is a crucial element that makes him brutally competitive and never lets anything get on his way. Senna and Schumacher had such attributes and they became Formula 1 legends.
While brutal on the tracks, Verstappen is still within an allowed human range to battle and defend his championship jealously which many people struggle to understand.
For him though, he understands being jealous is part of the job and it comes with a focused mindset to keep things grinding.
Besides Jos who is a former F1 driver, the Red Bull takes lessons on victory in such a competitive sport from his mother, a former karting driver.
This mix of the best minds in racing always challenges the Dutch driver coupled with the facts that Red Bull engines are incredibly powerful compared to those of his rivals.
Jos Verstappen and his son Max Verstappen. Photo/Media Referee
Clarkson pointed out Verstappen’s discontent after last month’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he finished second after suffering a driveshaft failure in qualifying, as an exceptional desire to win.
He says that Verstappen exudes a different desire altogether which is destroying every competitor on the tracks.
“He wants to destroy the people around him, his closest competitors, and a classic case was Saudi,” Clarkson says. “He started the race 15th, he drove a brilliant grand prix to finish second and yet he was really disappointed after the race and came out with the line, ‘I’m not here to finish second’.”
The FIA moderator cited that Verstappen’s brutal nature in his racing career makes him a ‘serial winner’, a trait no other current F1 driver possesses.
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