Giancarlo Fisichella: "Max Verstappen a huge talent, but no one as strong as Michael Schumacher"

Max Verstappen, race after race, victory after victory, never ceases to amaze and his feats begin to go beyond the numbers allowed by an impressive car. The Dutchman is dominating the beginning of this era of Formula 1 as the greats of the past have done.

His latest impressive achievement was just this past weekend, at the Miami Grand Prix, where despite starting in ninth position, thanks to a perfect race management he managed to secure victory, beating even his teammate Sergio Perez, who had started in pole position with the same car.

Thanks to this latest victory, the Dutch world champion has brought the number of Formula 1 victories to 38. Ahead of him, among the most successful of all time, we find Ayrton Senna (41), Alain Prost (51), Sebastian Vettel (53), Micheal Schumacher (91) and Lewis Hamilton (103). However, there are things that rankings cannot take into account, such as the superiority of the car.

In this sense, the opinion of those who directly know what it means to compete in the most important motorsport series becomes significant, and Italian daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport has collected the statements of some former Formula 1 drivers about the two-time Red Bull world champion. Below are the words of Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella.

Giancarlo Fisichella’s words on Max Verstappen

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Giancarlo Fisichella began his intervention on Max Verstappen by saying: “I raced against Michael Schumacher, when he was winning everything with Ferrari, and I believe that no one has been as strong as Micheal in managing the race. He remains number one to this day. But if we talk about driving talent, Max Verstappen is at the same level. In the Miami weekend he was devastating. The mistake he made in qualifying can happen, even if it cost him dearly due to the red flag, but for the rest of the weekend he dominated every moment.” – the Italian explained.

The former Formula 1 driver then spoke about the car the Dutchman drives and how during the 2023 F1 Miami Grand Prix he was in total control of everything: “In the race, he gave the impression of driving with one hand. He has a car that helps him, because it consumes tires little and when he opens the DRS, he flies in a straight line and in overtaking, but the driver makes the difference. It can happen that Segio Perez with the same car, wins some races during the season, but when it comes to the championship, there is no match. I fear that Max is destined to dominate for a long period if the combination with Red Bull remains so strong.” – he continued.

Giancarlo Fisichella then concluded his analysis by talking about the debut in Kart and Formula 1 of the two-time world champion: “Max has been a huge talent since childhood when he was racing in Karts. He arrived in Formula 1 at 17 years old and moved from Toro Rosso to Red Bull at 18 years and 7 months. At first, he was crashing and made some mistakes due to inexperience, but now he hardly ever makes mistakes. He has eliminated his weaknesses and now he is very strong on dry, wet conditions, in qualifying, in the race, on the fast lap, in short, he is complete. If we talk about precocity, considering his age and what he has already done, he is even ahead of the greats of the past who preceded him. Only Charles Leclerc can be compared to him in this respect. And in any case, a driver like Max Verstappen is born once every twenty years.” – the former Ferrari driver concluded.