[NeilP]

We live in a world of hyperbole these days.  When listening to the race re-run again yesterday I heard the words "two of the greatest drivers we have ever seen on the grid in Formula One" and that had me laughing to myself. What was more shocking it was not Croft who uttered those ridiculous words it was Martin Brundle.

I mean I rate Max highly I truly do.  He absolutely has the raw ability to be a world champion and perhaps a multiple world champion but really already one of the greatest. No way. No how.

The man is not learning his craft as yet again we have the latest example this weekend of his impetuous moves and poor race craft.  Yes he is spectacular on his day but lets be frank you need to sustain excellence for a whole season if you are to become a world champion unless of course you have a totally dominant car  (Cue the Peanut Gallery!!!) and I just do not see that in Max yet. I am increasingly of the opinion that winning World championships is not going to get much if any easier. The upcoming abilities of LeClerc, Norris, Sainz  and Russell are not going to make it easy for him. Russell in a Mercedes vs Verstappen in Red Bull is a fight I cannot wait to see.

All time great potential?  Yes. All time great now.  Absolute joke.

EDIT: LMAO.. Later on in the commentary Croft can be heard saying " Max Verstappen still a very young man at the age of 23 but this is his 120th Grand Prix so he has bags of experience so its not like he's going to make a rash move at the wrong time" Honestly you make this stuff up!!!

[Antilochos]

He is certainly not now, but he does have huge potential.

I mean, he is a great driver and to only be in these discussions (for several years now it seems) is pretty impressive for a 23 year old kid.

But again, it is just these silly times people immediately feel the need to talk about greatest of all times, with everything (not just Verstappen, F1, sport, no just everything). My personal opinion about greatest of all times is that it overall is a silly discussion. It is already hard to compare drivers in the same era (because car, team, age, etc), but to do it over all time is impossible. No way to say if Senna was better than Schumacher, Fangio vs Hamilton, and so on.

Lets just appreciate we have these great drivers. Even more, lets enjoy this year were two great drivers might have an almost equal battle.

[forzaferrari]

Is he one of the best in the current era.......of course,

is he a "great"?.......only time will tell.

[morini]

Not 100% sure it's wise thing to reply to this one but ......

It's a decent topic for debate, no doubt about that. I also think we'll have many differing views on here as to just how "great" Max is at this precise point in time, but the one thing that is clear is the guy isn't "just average". He has an undisputed talent, that much is already clear.

The chaps who analyse performance data for the F1 teams understand that Max has a certain ability (over and above some others on the grid) and is an exceptionally fast driver. The "unquantifiable / unmeasurable / intangible" bits are where the big question marks still lie for me. It is one thing putting in a few good race performances and winning some races, but a completely different thing competing for world championships under intense pressure from equally hungry competitors. Max has not been in that situation (yet), so none of us are in a position to judge his ability in that respect. I'm afraid that is indisputable as he has never been contending for a title while I've been watching him. Much of the "media hype" comes out of Holland and all the hype which doesn't comes from British media who would like nothing more than to see an end of the reign of the incumbent mega successful multi WDC (see comments in 2021 Bahrain thread) . My view, for what is is worth (i.e. absolutely nothing!) is that Max Verstappen's results do not yet match the hype surrounding him.

It is perhaps unfortunate that Max came into F1 with no feeder series track record other than childhood karting. That is actually my biggest problem with him as you can tell a lot about a drivers potential looking at how they came through the lower series (and don't take that as me thinking he isn't a great driver, because he clearly is). I love watching him drive and think he has a lot of raw talent, but so far he has won absolutely nothing, meaning the hype is just that (hype). Is Max's talent greater than George Russell, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz? As it stands today I'm not really convinced it is. There are so many drivers in the same ballpark outright speed wise - Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc, Yuki Tsunoda, so I think if max does have the mettle to become WDC he will have a lot of competition snapping at his heels moving forward.


Lots of talent on today's grid. Will Max stand out in 5 years time?

[PapaofGags]

Is he one of the best in the current era.......of course,

is he a "great"?.......only time will tell.

This sum's it up for me as well.

Hugely talented driver & will imo be seen as one of the best drivers of his era. 
(hoping the young Brits can give him a hard time)

Is he in the "great" category........... "only time will tell"