As a former mechanic in the 90s, including at Benetton, and as a current and long-standing team manager at AlphaTauri, Graham Watson knows Formula 1 inside out. Now the 56-year-old has compared two of the greats of motorsport in three-time champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and record world champion Michael Schumacher – with a result that is quite surprising in a category.
Max Verstappen has been the measure of all things in Formula 1 for several seasons now. Last year, the Dutchman dominated the premier class of motorsport at will, and a year before that victory was in no danger in the end, after 2021 was a hot one until the end duel for the title.
One person who knows Verstappen very well is manager Graham Watson, who has been active in Formula 1 for decades and has been employed at AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) since 2014. Watson also worked directly with Verstappen there in 2015 and 2016 – and has followed the current dominator’s career to this day.
Verstappen was “the best thing that could have happened to Formula 1,” emphasized the New Zealander in an interview with the portal “formule1.nl.”
Watson continued: “When Max left us for Red Bull, I compared him to Michael Schumacher when he moved to Ferrari.”
Schumi “made Formula 1 incredibly popular back then. Just look at the old pictures of Hockenheim and Spa: the stands were full of Schumacher flags,” Watson remembered.
After interest in Formula 1 had waned a little, it experienced a new boom thanks to Verstappen, Watson explained. “Max single-handedly saved the sport,” he said, adding: “Because he had the same intensity [wie Schumacher] brings along and arouses interest. People come in droves to Austria, Spa, basically everywhere for him.”
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The AlphaTauri team manager emphasized that despite all the enthusiasm from Germany, he had never seen such a large rush and such large crowds, even during Schumacher’s time. Here, Verstappen and his fans were able to go one step further, the 56-year-old summed up.
The Verstappen mania even infected his wife. “She is 60 years old but a big fan of Max. Because of his style, because of the excitement he creates on the track.”
The still reigning record world champion Lewis Hamilton, who like Schumi also has seven titles to his name, did not manage to inspire such crowds. But that’s also because Hamilton does so many other things on the side.
“Lewis Hamilton is a brand, Max Verstappen is a Formula 1 driver. And that won’t change. I’m not saying what Hamilton is doing is wrong, but he’s not the nerd like Max,” Watson concluded . “When guys like that aren’t in the car, they’re in the simulator or in the kart. They’re always trying to improve.”