Max Verstappen is going from success to success in Formula 1. With 17 wins this season so far on the way to his third world title, he has set a new record. Former world champion Damon Hill is still not completely convinced by the Dutchman.
Damon Hill, former racing driver and rival of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, has quietly criticized the performance of high-flyer Max Verstappen.
It was “great” what Red Bull and the 26-year-old had achieved this year, he said in the “Sky Sports F1” podcast. But he “can’t remember” seeing “much of Max” at the Brazilian Grand Prix. He was on the track and doing his laps.
Max Verstappen won both the sprint and the main race in Sao Paulo in the impressive manner of a world champion. In the sprint on Saturday he started from second position and was able to take the lead on the first lap. The next day he confidently achieved a start-to-finish victory.
Hill nevertheless complained: “I drove races that I won by a large margin, and then everyone says: ‘What a great performance.’ You want to say, ‘Well, to be honest, it wasn’t that difficult because everything was going right for me and I just couldn’t make any mistakes.'”
Verstappen doesn’t mind the criticism
Even Verstappen’s Dutch fans, “the Max fans”, would like to see the exceptional driver in more demanding racing situations more often, the Brit also said.
“The things you remember, the things we love about the sport, are the brilliant overtaking maneuvers,” added the 1996 world champion.
Max Verstappen shouldn’t be bothered by the 63-year-old’s comments. “To be honest, I don’t look at it at all. I don’t care,” he said after his 52nd Grand Prix victory of his career about the critical comments from some fans who see Verstappen’s success primarily as a result of because he drives the best car by far. “I just do my thing at the track, then I go home and do my thing there too.”