Red Bull look head and shoulders above the rest of the grid this year and not only that; Max Verstappen looks to be vastly superior to his teammate Sergio Perez.
The Dutchman took pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix and never looked back, winning the race by a considerable margin despite being asked to slow down by his race engineer Gianpierro Lambiase.
Verstappen won his first world championship in 2021 in controversial fashion and has seemed almost unbeatable since, winning last year’s title by a landslide.
Only one race into 2023, the 25-year-old looks like the heavy favourite to win the championship once again this year, partly because of his incredible talent and partly because no team seem capable of challenging Red Bull.
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Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok has been discussing Verstappen’s qualities and with the Dutchman targeting a third consecutive world title at the age of 25, the pundit has made a bold claim about the Red Bull driver.
“I think it’s unfair to try and rank a driver in a list of all-time greats when they’re still currently driving but I mean, in terms of outright talented drivers to have driven a Formula One car, I think he’s in the Clark, Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton category,” he told GIVEMESPORT.
“It’s very hard to say where they rank among the all-time greats, because then you have to define a sign of greatness.
“You could argue Gilles Villeneuve was one of the most talented drivers ever. Did he manage his career in the best way? Did he managed his overall being as a racing driver as well as Niki Lauda?
“He didn’t, and that’s why he didn’t win three world championships whereas Niki did, but Niki wasn’t as fast. So there are so many complexities to that sort of ranking.
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“There’s no doubt in my mind that Max is certainly one of the top 10 most talented though.”
Whilst Verstappen clearly has the talent to go on and match Hamilton and Schumacher’s record seven world titles, the Dutchman has admitted that this is unlikely to happen.
With the 25-year-old having other motorsport interests, Verstappen has said that his career in F1 will not last as long as the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, with some even suggested that he would walk away from F1 at the end of his current contract in 2028.