15 Out of 22 Races Enough for Lewis Hamilton’s Greatest Nemesis to Place Max Verstappen in an Elite Club

Red Bull and Max Verstappen had one of the most dominant seasons F1 has ever witnessed. Of the 22 fixtures in the season, Red Bull won 17, of which Max contributed 15. We often saw Verstappen winning the races despite starting far from the pole position. On two of those occasions, he won from as far back as P10 and P14. Such was his command over the grid that Nico Rosberg believes the Dutchman will soon join the list of greats like Schumacher, Senna, and mutual rival Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull did not start the season on a high note. The Milton-Keynes-based outfit suffered 3 DNFs from the first three races as the car faced reliability and weight-related issues. However, once the team overcame the issues, Verstappen made the most of it and what followed was a thrilling, record-breaking season.

Nico Rosberg goes gaga over Max Verstappen

Rosberg recently uploaded a video on his YouTube channel where he talked about his top 5 drivers of 2022. While he put Max in the number 1 position, he also talked about his top-5 all-time favorite drivers. Nico put his former Mercedes teammate-rival Lewis Hamilton on the list alongside Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, and Juan Manuel Fangio. Rosberg feels Max will soon make the list and certainly has everything he needs to be there.

He said, “For me, it’s almost sure that he’s going to be a top-five driver of all time, with the likes of Senna, Hamilton, and Schumacher and someone else where fourth you’d pick Fangio, of course. It’s Schumacher, Senna, Hamilton, and Fangio. That’s top four and it’s quite an easy one, I think. And then you’d put Verstappen there very soon, not yet because he has only two titles, but he’ll be there very soon, I’m sure. So that’s very impressive. He’s only 24-25 years old.”

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Witnessing the brilliance unfold in front of his eyes from the commentary box in Abu Dhabi, Martin Brundle compared Max Verstappen with Michael Schumacher. Later, Nico Rosberg compared him with the greats like Schumacher and Senna.

Nico Rosberg’s high praise for Verstappen

Max’s dominant display left Nico awestruck. What particularly impressed him was how the Flying Dutch squeezed out wins despite starting as far as P10 and P14.

Speaking with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Rosberg said, “He has a warrior spirit like Schumacher and Senna had.” [Translated using Google]

“I must admit that this year surprised me, because it started so badly. Ferrari was superior. Still, he has had a historic season, with fifteen victories.,” the former F1 champion added. “In general, he often won with relatively few pole positions. Then he won regularly after a catch-up race. I’m sure he will become one of the greatest of all time.”

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The 2023 season will be a tough one for Red Bull given the wind tunnel penalty they are carrying for the 2021 cost cap breach. It will be interesting to see if Max and Co. can carry the momentum forward.