F1: "A driver like Verstappen is born once every 20 years"

–by ark Cipolloni–

Former Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella fears that Max Verstappen will dominate the sport much in the way Michael Schumacher did in his era.

“I raced against Schumacher, when he won everything with Ferrari, and I think there was no one as strong as Michael in race management. He remains number one to this day. But if we talk about driving talent, Max Verstappen is on the same level,” Fisichella said to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I fear that Max is destined to dominate for a long time, if the union with Red Bull remains so strong.

“At the beginning he was crashing, he made a few mistakes due to inexperience, whereas now he hardly ever makes mistakes.

“He has acquired an incredible consistency of performance, eliminating weak points. He is strong in the wet, in the dry, on the dry lap in qualifying and in the race. He is complete.

“If we talk about precocity, considering what he has done and is doing at his age, he is even ahead of the greats of the past who preceded him.

“Only Charles Leclerc can be compared to him in this respect [that’s a crook given how often Leclerc runs out of talent and crashes]. And in any case, a driver like Verstappen is born once every 20 years.”

Massa backs up Fisichella claim

“He [Verstappen] has a lot of say within the team – everyone follows him and is on his side,” Massa added.

“It is even difficult to think that the limitations in the wind tunnel could hurt their performance this year.

“But there is another winning feature of Verstappen – that he is focused only on racing, without any other distractions. If he could, he’d be in the simulator or on the track 24 hours a day.”