Max Verstappen has been the driver of the year according to multiple moguls in F1. Despite the multiple blows to his 2021 campaign, the newly crowned champion wholly deserves his place amongst the finest. Sky Sports commenter and former F1 driver, Karun Chandhok, praises Max’s championship battle, likening him with some of the strongest- both in the present and past.

In his SkySports column, the former racer applauded the 2021 champion. “There’s no question in my mind that Max was a deserving world champion this year.” Chandhok backs his statement with Verstappen’s first and second finishes in a vast majority of the races he finished.

He also credits Verstappen for handling the pressures that come with a championship battle at a young age. For this, he remembers Moto GP icon, Marc Marquez. “His phenomenal ability to soak up  pressure at such a young age reminds me of MotoGP ace Marc Marquez.”

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Marquez, too, rivaled a legend of his sport: Valentino Rossi. 46 vs 93 gave for some of the most memorable battles in Moto GP; some even reflective of the ones we witnessed between 44 and 33 on four wheels this season.

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Chandhok doesn’t stop at Marquez. Looking at what he considers to be the single fault in Verstappen’s season, he compares the Dutchman to a seven-time champion. Despite the last-minute contact with the wall, the qualifying lap at Jeddah was undoubtedly the most exhilarating moment of the season.

Verstappen pushed his Red Bull to the absolute limit for a flier around Jeddah, one even Toto Wolff was disappointed to see go to waste. Nonetheless, Chandhok was left reminiscent of Michael Schumacher. “He has an uncompromising style of racing like Michael Schumacher used to…”

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The former driver also claimed that barring the early calamities of the season, Verstappen would have clinched the title more easily. “Max was unlucky to lose the win in Baku which looked comfortably in the bag until his tire blew, and also got taken out by Bottas in Budapest, so he really should have wrapped the title up more comfortably.”

Nonetheless, Verstappen is now a world champion for the first time in his career; looking at the legends he’s been likened with, it surely won’t be his last.

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