F1 Pundit Makes Startling Claim About Verstappen

Max Verstappen is developing the same kind of reputation among his fellow drivers the great Ayrton Senna did, according to Martin Brundle. The Dutchman secured a brilliant second-place finish from 18th on the grid at the United States Grand Prix, from 18th on the grid.

Verstappen was displaced by a suspension failure in qualifying that required a gearbox change, but he had undone much of the damage on the first lap at the Circuit of the Americas, making up an incredible nine places.

Red Bull’s off-set strategy even had Verstappen in with a sniff of victory in Austin, but he could not catch Kimi Raikkonen and instead had to defend P2 from Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages.

The Mercedes bailed out of a tentative late move and Hamilton admitted he had given Verstappen “too much room” as he did not want to harm his title chances.

Verstappen spoke after the race of his relish that drivers were worried about overtaking hi, and Brundle sees it as a parallel the 21-year-old shares with one of F’s all-time greats.

“In the closing stages it became clear that Kimi, Max and Lewis would be on the podium, but we had no idea in which order,” Brundle wrote for Sky Sports.

“You can never have too much Lewis v Max, and the young Dutchman won this encounter with clever placement of his car, and not the late change of direction tactics he used in his early F1 days.

“He’s brilliantly established himself in the psyche of others to be approached with caution. Just as Ayrton Senna did.

“I’m surprised Lewis admitted in the press conference that he’d given Max too much space, it only underlined the hierarchy on this matter.

“We may well see some flying carbon fibre as drivers try to mark their territory in future.”