Verstappen ‘more sensitive than you think’ as Horner makes Hamilton comparison
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is the reigning F1 World Champion
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen is “more sensitive than you think” to criticism by F1 pundits.
It comes after Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 World Champion, claimed that “nobody” would care if Verstappen was no longer competing.
Christian Horner: Max Verstappen ‘sensitive’ to criticism
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
Verstappen has cemented his place alongside the greatest drivers in history over recent years and sealed a fourth consecutive World Championship last season.
His F1 2024 success was arguably Verstappen’s greatest triumph yet, with the Red Bull driver seeing off the threat of McLaren’s Lando Norris despite not having the fastest car for much of the season.
Verstappen’s driving standards came under scrutiny in the closing weeks of the season as he accrued six penalty points across the final five rounds of last season.
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It means he will start his F1 2025 title defence on eight penalty points, just four away from triggering a one-race ban.
Verstappen was heavily criticised for his aggressive style of racing against Norris in Mexico, where he incurred two 10-second time penalties in quick succession for forcing the McLaren driver off the track.
Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion who was working as a Sky F1 television pundit at the time, was among the most vociferous critics of Verstappen, likening the World Champion to Dick Dastardly, the villain from the children’s cartoon series Wacky Races.
After inflicting a fatal blow on Norris’s title hopes with a convincing win in Brazil a week later, Verstappen poked fun at the lack of British journalists in the post-race press conference, quipping that UK-based reporters had quickly fled to the airport.
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com, Horner revealed that Verstappen is very much aware of the criticism.
And he argued that Verstappen’s willingness to push the limits is no different to some of the most successful drivers in F1 history, including Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton.
He said: “He’s more sensitive than you think.
“Inevitably, he’s aware of the criticism and some of it, I think, is very unfounded.
“He’s a driver that drives aggressive. He’s an attacking driver.
“But so was Senna, so was Schumacher, so was Hamilton – and they all came under the same kind of spotlight at various times in their careers.”
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Villeneuve reignited the debate over Verstappen and Hamilton earlier this week, claiming that few would be bothered if the Red Bull driver were to retire.
He said: “Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari is the most high-profile F1 move since Michael Schumacher left Benetton for Ferrari.
“Independent of race results, Lewis Hamilton is the biggest driver of all time because of all the following he has.
“He’s very different. He’s unique. He’s broken the mould. There’s a lot that hangs on him. He has the biggest image. His image goes beyond F1. And there’s not many drivers like that.
“Take Verstappen out of F1. Nobody cares. Take Hamilton out of F1, people care.”
Verstappen recently offered a rare insight into his mindset in wheel-to-wheel combat, admitting that he is prepared to cross the line in his pursuit of the “maximum result.”
He told Viaplay: “I will always get the maximum out of it. Sometimes you have to cross a line and I’ll do that.
“I will do everything to get the maximum result out of it for a championship.
“And, of course, yes, sometimes you have to be on the limit, over the limit.
“You have to calculate all that, and not everyone understands that. Not everyone has that mentality.”
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