Bernie Ecclestone believes that Verstappen has already become the best of all time

• F1

After his 13th victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen raised a lot of interest. The comments of fans and the audience on social networks were pouring in. Certainly there was excitement in Red Bull because they currently have perhaps the best Formula 1 driver.

In addition to the fans and the audience, many distinguished personalities and former drivers praised Versteppen and compared him to the greatest names in Formula 1 of all time. Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is convinced that Max Verstappen has already promoted himself as the greatest driver in the premier class of motorsport.

Statistically, Lewis Hamilton sits atop Formula 1 with the most wins, podiums and pole positions among his records, while he and Michael Schumacher are the only seven-time world champions and Verstappen is coming off a third consecutive title.

After beating Hamilton in the deciding race for the Abu Dhabi 2021 title, Verstappen held on to his title with no problems, while his level of dominance this season rewrote the record books as the Red Bull driver made it 10 wins in a row in one season.

The continuation of Max Verstappen's winning streak and the announcement of an even better continuation of his career

The reigning champion began a record winning streak in the races between the Miami Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix, while Red Bull went on a streak of 15 in a row, both of which were ended by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in Singapore.

The Dutch driver with the RB19 is unassailable, and his team mate Sergio Perez felt that on his own skin the most, who cannot match the current champion in many situations even though he had the same car as the 25-year-old.

The former boss of Formula 1 believes that Max Verstappen is the best driver ever for him, and that he is above the active seven-time world champion, but also above Alain Prost, whom he considered the greatest. "Max is the best driver ever," Ecclestone told the Daily Mail.

“Without a doubt”. "I was talking about Alain Prost. Now I would say Max. He is the greatest. He is the smartest in terms of getting the best out of the car. He doesn't talk around. He comes right on schedule. On my list, he is above Lewis Hamilton," he pointed out.

Ecclestone then delved into what he sees as the key differences between Verstappen and Hamilton, including Verstappen being "one of us" while Hamilton already has various non-racing projects to attend to after retiring from Formula 1.

The British driver recently extended his cooperation with Mercedes until the end of 2025, all in order to become the only driver with eight titles won, but also to try to repay Verstappen for the defeat. "Lewis is obviously super-super bright, super-super talented," Ecclestone continued.

"Lewis understands people and gets the best out of them, while Max gets the best out of the car. He is very different from Max. When Lewis stops racing, he can go into a different world – entertainment or whatever – but that's not going to be the way for Max”.

“I'll tell you Max is one of us. In our Formula 1 sphere, nobody is like Lewis, nobody is. I think [when he was younger] he was a bit different from other people before. I was a little too small at school, so that's a little different too.

As it was with Lewis. He had the support of his father”. "When you're too young, or whatever, you have to take care of yourself. Maybe you have to be a fighter. This is often seen in business in general," concluded Bernie Ecclestone.