Max Verstappen is on the brink of his fourth World Drivers’ Championship, besting the great Ayrton Senna, who “only” managed three before his life was tragically cut short in 1994.
Following Verstappen’s dominant performance in São Paulo, Senna’s hometown, once again comparisons with the legendary Brazilian were made.
Verstappen’s former Red Bull F1 team mate Pierre Gasly was asked whether he, as a Senna fan, can draw any similarities between the Brazilian legend and the Dutch prodigy, but he deferred the question to people who actually saw Senna drive.
“I think it would be better to ask people that have seen Senna racing live and seen racing weekend after weekend. All I can see is from the documentaries and many videos I’ve seen.
“What’s clear is that Max’s racing style is quite unique around the grid.”
The comparisons between the still relatively young Red Bull driver and arguably the greatest Formula 1 driver in history aren’t new, and aren’t only on the positives of their respective driving styles.
As Senna before him Verstappen has been on the receiving end of criticism regarding his “yield or crash” behaviour in wheel-to-wheel combat.
Gasly has faced Verstappen multiple times over his career in F1 and before it, underlines this sentiment, recalling their battles from their karting days.
“It seems like when you go wheel to wheel to him the outcome is quite often slightly different than what you’ll face with other guys.
“Whether it’s fair or not is another conversation,” Gasly adds. “But it’s guaranteed hard racing. The outcome seems unlikely to end up as an overtaking and can be an incident or a penalty.
“It’s his style. I think we can all tell. All of us who raced him in karting was the same.
“I got many starts which I ended up in the grass because Max started behind me. It was just the way he used to race back then.
“He’s also quite smart at using the regulation and takes everything up to the limit. When you’re fighting for a world championship that’s what you expect a guy like him to do as well.”
Gasly, who finished third in Interlagos behind Verstappen and team mate Esteban Ocon, feels the Dutchman is right to find the limits of the regulations in F1, but doubts whether the regulations themselves are right.
“[Is it fair,] to be at the limit of the regulation? Yes. Whether the regulation is written properly is another question.”
