Flavio Briatore Feels Ferrari Should Sign Verstappen

Published 11/14/2017, 7:39 AM EST

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Former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore feels that Ferrari have made a mistake by not signing Max Verstappen for the future. the 20-year old Dutchman is regarded as a future F1 world champion. Ferrari re-signed Finnish veteran Kimi Raikkonen for 2018 while Red Bull renewed Max’s contract through 2020. Briatore said “I don’t know what [Sergio] Marchionne will do, he is unpredictable. But with Raikkonen you will never win the constructors’ title. To win you need two good drivers, and Ferrari does not have that.”

via Imago

The Italian millionaire said “I would sign Verstappen with my eyes closed. He is the only real driver that people want to see. A gladiator that they do everything to penalise in every race”. Briatore also hailed Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 title triumph, saying: “This year he was more motivated on the track than in the disco.”

Meanwhile,  Niki Lauda thinks that Sergio Marchionne was right to blame driver mistakes for costing Ferrari the title. Lauda said, “I know Sergio well and like me he says what he thinks, although sometimes I’m a little more diplomatic. But I understand. They lost the championship – it’s right to be critical.”

Flavio Briatore has been highly critical of Kimi Raikkonen. He has repeatedly said that Ferrari cannot beat Mercedes with Kimi on the team. The 2007 World Champion signed a new one-year deal with the Scuderia for the 2018 season. He has only claimed five podium finishes this campaign and has not won a race since 2013. However, Vettel still insists that Raikkonen is the best choice.

The 2017 championship concludes next weekend with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It will surely be a perfect end to Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 championship if he wins. Meanwhile, Vettel will be aiming to keep up the momentum after winning in Brazil on Sunday.

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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