Jos Verstappen’s former F1 foe makes bold claim about Max ahead of Brazilian GP

Enrique Bernoldi, who partnered Jos Verstappen at Arrows in 2001, believes that his former rival’s son Max is now up there with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. The striking comments come despite a formerly strained relationship between Bernoldi and Verstappen Snr, who failed to gel during their time as team-mates.

The junior Verstappen has established himself as the dominant force in F1 since pipping Hamilton to a controversial world title in 2021. With Red Bull head and shoulders above the rest of the field, he has added two more championships to his collection including this year’s, which he clinched with a staggering six races to spare.

Although Verstappen has some way to go before levelling the scores with Schumacher and Hamilton, who boast seven Drivers’ Championships apiece, Bernoldi believes that he has shown enough to be placed alongside the greats.

“Max is only 25 and he has achieved so much,” he told Beyond The Grid. “I think he has passed [Aryton] Senna for wins already. So, surely Max will stand up there with the greats of all time.

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“I think he’s up there with Lewis, with Senna, with Michael. He’s really, really fast now. Also what I like most about him is his mindset of domination against his opponents.

“It’s like they go to try to block him or try to pass him and it feels like they know in their heads that they’re going to lose. The way he just breaks so late and gets the guy, and the guy can’t do anything because he’s coming from such a long way back.”

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Verstappen has already won 16 Grands Prix this year – a record for a single season – and he could add to that total with three more races to come. Next up is Brazil this weekend, and the Dutchman will surely fancy his chances after romping to a routine victory in Mexico last time out.

Bernoldi’s comments suggest that he expects nothing less, while they will also help to build bridges with Jos after a falling-out during their brief F1 partnership. “At the beginning [we had a good relationship],” he continued. “We’re friends now, right? We were not friends from mid-season on.

“The tip of the iceberg is that in Austria, he crashed on Saturday morning free practice. I’m driving and I see the orange car there, in the barriers, or in the gravel and I think, ‘Yes, it’s an advantage for me!’ As soon as I stop, I’m giving the feedback to my engineer and he said get out of the car.

“I thought they would change something [on] my seat. I see Jos with his helmet beside my car and I look and he takes my car for the second free practice session. They explained that he was there with the team for many years, he was the number one driver and that’s how it goes.”

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