“I Never Thought Sebastian Vettel was Magical” – Max Verstappen

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is regarded as one of the best drivers on the current F1 grid. Four back-to-back Driver’s World Championships is enough proof of that fact. However, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen would not consider the German a ‘Magical’ driver.

His reasoning was that since Daniel Ricciardo defeated Vettel in their first season as teammates, he is not invincible. How, his recent struggles against current teammate, Charles LeClerc, only proves that Max Verstappen was right all along.

From 2010 to 2013, Vettel, then at Red Bull, dominated for four consecutive years. Their streak was only ended when the V6 Turbo Hybrid era began and Mercedes took over.

Speaking to La Gazetta dello Sport, Max Verstappen said, “I’ve always thought that Vettel is a good driver, because otherwise you won’t win four world titles,”

“However, I never thought he was magical. That’s partly because Daniel Ricciardo managed to beat him at Red Bull and now comes confirmation with Leclerc, which also makes it very difficult for him.”

Max Verstappen is now hot property on the driver market, with links to a few top teams. One such team is Mercedes, with Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko saying that Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff approached Max Verstappen.

Now, with Charles LeClerc also on the rise, there are chances that they can be rivals. Verstappen has also revealed that he is not opposed to partnering a leading driver.

“If there is ever the chance that Leclerc and I can become teammates, I will certainly accept that challenge,” he added.

“That also applies to Hamilton, he has already won five world titles, but I don’t care.”

If the above situation does come to pass, will there be a situation akin to Fernando Alonso vs Lewis Hamilton 2007? Whatever the case, the scenario for the 2021 season will be very interesting indeed, especially in terms of the driver market.