Is Max Verstappen as good as Ayrton Senna?

Max Verstappen had another successful Sunday in the Montreal pit. PDO

The statistics don’t lie, they say.

If this is the case, Max Verstappen, who won the 41st GP of his career, is now just as good as Ayrton Senna.

Perhaps two weeks from now in Austria, Verstappen will be better than the legendary Brazilian, according to those who believe in the power of statistics.

Ranking drivers is always a matter of taste, but some kind of comparison between the former and current king of the F1 series must be made.

There are so many similarities.

Both Senna and Verstappen wrapped the racing crowd around their little fingers right from the first meters of their F1 career.

Both immediately made it clear to everyone what kind of exceptional talent they were. There was something sparkling about the drive, even though the tail end equipment kept them out of the race for victory. The exception, of course, is Senna’s performance in Monaco.

Both of them rose to the top in their careers already in the second season. Senna won his second race with Lotus, Verstappen took first in his first Red Bull race.

In the following years, both Senna and Verstappen were polished from diamonds in the rough into gems. Senna blossomed when he switched to McLaren-Honda, Verstappen needed Honda mills for his Red Bull.

Prost vs Senna.

Hamilton vs Verstappen.

The first is the most iconic fighting pair in F1 history, the second is not much worse. Both fights saw numerous overshoots, but also breathtaking driving performances.

They got along both on the track and in front of the media. Senna once understood the power of the media, and Verstappenka is certainly not unaware of this.

In the fight between the two F1 giants, the fans are always divided into two camps. Supporters praise, but supporters of Prost or Hamilton see in these two men with 41 wins something so bad that it cannot be put into words. Or nowadays you can, thanks to somen.

In terms of driving skills, Senna and Verstappen are extremely skilled.

How do you know that? Just look at their performance in the rain.

When the track is slippery, natural driving skills, in the vernacular ass feeling, increases in value. It is not surprising that in difficult circumstances, it is this duo that rises above the rest.

There are so many examples that the successes of the raincoat cannot be attributed to chance or once-successful adjustments.

It was no coincidence that Verstappen started his rise alongside Senna by taking pole in difficult conditions.

Verstappen needed 171 GP starts to reach 41 wins. Senna “only” 161.

Verstappen reached a milestone at the age of 25. Senna was 33 years old at the time of his last victory.

This statistic reveals a big change in the F1 series between the two years of driving. During Senna, there were fewer competitions. In addition, the more unreliable and harder-to-drive cars made reaching the finish line a rarer treat than what Verstappen is used to at the wheel of a modern F1 car.

Of course, today’s F1 drivers are also required to do different things. The driving may not be as brutal anymore, but breaking it down into small nuances, mastering every detail in the spirit of racing requires a different kind of skill.

There is no doubt that Senna and Verstappen would have also mastered the demands placed on the F1 drivers of each other’s eras.

The statistics and the examples mentioned in this article are therefore in favor of making Senna and Verstappen equal drivers.

Still, it feels wrong somehow.

Maybe it’s pure nostalgia. Or Senna’s reputation as an iconic F1 legend that has grown to mythical proportions.

In the books of many, Verstappen still has a brisk way to go alongside Senna. Even if the statistics say otherwise.