Don’t compare Max Verstappen to Ayrton Senna, says pundit

Max Verstappen may be breaking records at a rate of knots, but don’t compare him to Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher, says the German’s brother Ralf.

Verstappen’s record-breaking 2023 campaign continued at the Brazilian Grand Prix where the Dutchman expanded his record for the most wins in a single season to 17. That’s 17 out of 20, giving him a better win percentage than Alberto Ascari in 1952.

He also has the most wins from pole in a season (11) and the most consecutive wins from pole position having converted 15 in a stint that goes back to last year’s Dutch Grand Prix.

‘They were exceptional in their time’

Throw in the most hat-tricks, points, podiums, and laps led in a single campaign and it has fans and pundits alike saying he’s the Senna of his generation, perhaps the next Michael Schumacher.

Both Senna and Schumacher were record-breakers in their time, Senna having achieved the most pole positions with 65 before Lewis Hamilton shattered that while Schumacher was the first driver to reach seven World titles.

However, Ralf Schumacher believes one cannot compare the three as they were all brilliant.

“Max Verstappen races from victory to victory, continues to write history and simply doesn’t make any mistakes in Brazil,” he told Sky Deutschland.

“However, I’m not a fan of always drawing comparisons with my brother or Ayrton Senna. They were exceptional in their time.

“That’s Verstappen now too. It’s incredible how he does it.”

Instead, if you want to compare Verstappen to someone, use Sergio Perez as an example as they’re two drivers in the same era in the same car.

“If you compare his performance with his team-mate Sergio Perez, there was once again a big difference in the race,” he added.

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Even Verstappen doesn’t want to be compared

Back at this year’s Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen equalled Senna’s tally of 41 grand prix victories while in Qatar he tied with the Brazilian on three World Championship titles – but even he doesn’t want to be compared to Senna.

“I hate to compare different generations,” he said. “From my side, the only thing I can say is that when I was a little kid driving in go-karting, I was dreaming about being a Formula 1 driver and I would have never imagined to win 41 grands prix.

“Of course, to tie with Ayrton is something incredible. I’m proud of that but, of course, I hope it’s not stopping here – I hope that we can keep on winning more races.”

It didn’t stop there, Verstappen’s overall win count up to 52 with two races remaining this season.

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