Ex-Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan believes that Max Verstappen has the potential to become the greatest driver in the history of the sport.
The Dutchman has two F1 titles to his name and is the heavy favourite to take the 2023 World Championship following a strong start to the campaign.
At just 25 years of age, Verstappen has already tallied 38 grand prix wins – the sixth most of all time.
Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen’s title rival for the 2021 campaign, currently holds the record for the most wins with 103.
The seven-time champion is often labelled as the greatest driver in the sport’s history – however Jordan believes that Verstappen could achieve that identity by the time he retires.
“Then you have somebody as quick naturally as Max,” Jordan said on the Formula For Success podcast.
“For me, I really do believe in time he will turn out to be the greatest driver of all time subject to, fingers crossed, that he will be safe and well for a very long time.
“He has such a phenomenal attitude in the car. He’s aggressive when he needs to be aggressive, he’s tough when he needs to be tough, but he’s clever as well, he knows how to look after the car.
“Another thing in his favour, he has to hope – particularly after the death of Dietrich Mateschitz of Red Bull – that the team stays as strong as it is.
“With the people like Christian [Horner] and Adrian Newey there, I see no real problem in the short term and I see Max going from strength to strength.
“I would not like to be a driver in Formula 1 at the moment hoping to become a World Champion because I don’t know where it’s going to come from.”
However, ex-F1 driver David Coulthard believes that there are a handful of drivers on the grid that could pose a threat to Verstappen.
“I think Formula 1 is in a great place right now with a number of young guys, all sort of mid-20s, you’ve got the Landos and Georges and Charles and Maxs and whoever else I’m missing out of that group right now,” he said.
“And then at the other end you’ve got Fernando and Lewis as the elder statesmen.
“But we have a generation of drivers in their mid-20s that for the next decade are going to be trying to fight it out. And basically, any one of those guys who get their hands on a race-winning car has a chance to challenge Max.
“Challenging Max in the same team is going to take somebody mighty, a superhuman effort, because Max is just he’s a machine isn’t he?
“He’s been groomed in the nicest way of that expression in terms of being on the racetrack from an early age, both parents have been racers, and he’s assertive, strong-willed and more than capable.”
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