Before Beating Lewis Hamilton in 2021, Pompous Max Verstappen Predicted His Greatness: “Records Will Come My Way”

The last two years have been golden for Max Verstappen. In 2021, he narrowly beat Lewis Hamilton to his maiden world championship. In 2022, he broke records left, right, and center to secure his second world championship. Turns out, the Dutchman had predicted it all years ago in an interview.

2022 was undoubtedly the best season Red Bull and Max Verstappen have ever had. While Max displayed a superior racing pedigree, the team provided him with the car to be able to do that. While the season did not start well for them, with 3 DNFs in the first 3 races, the Milton-Keynes-based outfit was quick enough to tackle the issues.

Speaking with news.verstappen.com in 2018 about the importance of records, Max Verstappen told, “I do look at them, but it’s too soon to focus on them. With a bit of luck, the records will come my way once we’ve got the best car. Of course, I’ll always do my best.”

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Max was not the only one to predict his success. In 2020, F1 legend Alain Prost too had reserved the highest praise for the Dutchman. After the 2022 campaign, the positive comments from F1 pundits have only increased. Some even compared Max with greats like Michael Schumacher.

Nico Rosberg and Martin Brundle laud Max Verstappen for his dominant season

In sports, it is often said: winning is a habit. Max Verstappen certainly showed that during the 2022 campaign. He did not always start races from the pole position. In fact, on a couple of occasions, he managed to grab a win despite starting as far back as P10 and P14. Former world champion Nico Rosberg was left mighty impressed with that ability.

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

“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.”

Before Nico, Martin Brundle compared Max with Schumacher as well. Watching him take the win in the season finale with ease from the commentary box, Brundle could not help but draw the parallel. Later in his Sky Sports column, Brundle wrote, “In the commentary, I described Max Verstappen’s drive as ‘Michael Schumacher-esque’ because it seemed however slow he was driving his car to preserve tires he was still pulling away from the field.”

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Max is currently only 25 years old. We have now doubts he will achieve a lot more in the years to come.