Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has compared Max Verstappen to the late three-time world champion Ayrton Senna.
Verstappen will be racing in Formula 1 next season for Toro Rosso and making the leap up from a Formula 3 category he is currently heading, much like Senna himself. In the process set to become the youngest driver in the sport to contest an F1 race.
When asked in a Q&A session with the official F1 website about which driver past or present the 17-year-old Red Bull protege is akin to, Marko replied “much like Ayrton Senna” and singled him out as an “exceptional talent that comes along only once in decades.”
“And in such a case you must not look at his age. He has been talking with people who are experts when it comes to the development of youngsters and they all say that (in terms of) his mind he is more like 22 than 16.
“And regarding his skills behind the steering wheel, he has been racing since he was four years old – professionally. So we expect him to be competitive from the first race.”
The Austrian believes that making Verstappen step up into F1 so early in his career is not a gamble taken upon by Red Bull and himself.
“We are not playing the lottery – we know what we are doing.” he said. “And success proves us right.”
