Max Verstappen has no ‘foil’ until one key trait matched, claims Damon Hill

Max Verstappen’s skill as a Formula 1 driver is undeniable; even as the F1 2025 season shapes up to be a difficult one for the reigning champion, he continues to extract more from his RB21 than seems possible.

That’s because Verstappen possesses a level of gravitas and seriousness that many of his competitors lack, claims former F1 World Champion Damon Hill.

The trait that sets Max Verstappen apart

From the moment that Max Verstappen signed with the Red Bull Junior Programme, it was clear that he was destined for greatness.

The Dutch driver’s introduction to Formula 1 came when he was just a teenager, one with a diamond-in-the-rough type of talent that saw him involved in as many dangerous skirmishes as stunning finishes. On his first outing behind the wheel of a Red Bull Racing machine, he snatched victory, and from that point, it was only a matter of time before he would take his first championship.

Now, with four titles under his belt, Verstappen has run headlong into his first major challenge: An uncomfortable race car.

Despite the tetchy nature of 2025’s RB21, though, Verstappen has taken two wins on the season and sits third in the World Drivers’ Championship standings

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While many have speculated on what it is that makes Verstappen such a strong racing driver, Damon Hill believes he has the answer.

The 1996 Formula 1 World Champion recently spoke to The Guardian in a comprehensive interview that addressed everything from the loss of his father Graham to the pain of losing a strong competitor like Ayrton Senna.

But Hill was also asked if he felt a modern driver like Max Verstappen could achieve the same heights of greatness as predecessors like Senna and Michael Schumacher — and his answer is fascinating.

“Yes, he’s in that mould,” Hill admitted.

“Max is disciplined and honed, trained to fight. But the whole point of the sport is to be up against a foe or nemesis who defines you.

“I don’t think F1 has the same gravitas as the era we’re talking about. From their perspective this is serious combat – but I don’t know if anybody’s matched up to Max’s seriousness yet.

“Until they do, he hasn’t got the foil.”

Hill points out that drivers like Alan Jones, Niki Lauda, and James Hunt in his prime were “brutally serious” drivers, ones who would stop at nothing to win. The dangerous nature of the sport at the time required total commitment and a completely serious mindset when it came time to execute a move on the race track.

As a result, the greatest drivers of eras past have often had a ‘foil’ to push them to ever greater heights. Senna, for example, had Alain Prost; Hunt had Lauda; Jones had Nelson Piquet; Jim Clark had Graham Hill.

But in Hill’s mind, no other driver truly stacks up.

“Max and Fernando Alonso are the same,” Hill explained.

“Max always gives it 100 per cent. Same with Fernando, who is cunning and clever. I wouldn’t want to play cards with him.”

Hill then ran through the major players of the F1 2025 season: Oscar Piastri is interesting but still quite new; Charles Leclerc is talented but “maybe too comfortable” at Ferrari; Carlos Sainz “has got that mettle which makes him fight” but is now confined to a Williams; Lando Norris is talented, “but I don’t sense he’s concerned enough that he might lose it.”

To clarify his point, Hill recalled the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, which was critical in his ability to win the title that year. After saying a prayer to Ayrton Senna, Hill found himself driving like he’d never driven before.

“I have no real explanation for what happened other than we are constrained by our conscious brain to be cautious and our limbic system is much more capable than we ever give it credit for,” he said.

“If we can just get ourselves out of the way, we can do extraordinary things, and making that little prayer freed me up.

“I couldn’t find any other way of going quicker. I was going to get beaten by Michael. I wouldn’t say it was an out-of-body experience because I was there in the car, but my hands and my feet were just completely free. It was like someone had suddenly taken off the handbrake.”

And it’s that sensation that continues to separate Max Verstappen from the rest of the F1 2025 field.

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