Helmut Marko names the one area where Max Verstappen is better than Sebastian Vettel

Follow us on Google Discover

Sebastian Vettel was by far and away the greatest driver in Red Bull’s history before Max Verstappen came along. Vettel won four world championships with the team, cementing himself as an all-time great.

The German completed his first full F1 season with Toro Rosso in 2008 and then graduated to Red Bull a year later. He scored his first victory in their colours at the 2009 Chinese GP and became the sport’s youngest-ever world champion a year later.

In all, Vettel won 38 races for the team before he left to join Ferrari at the end of the 2014 season. Around 18 months later, Christian Horner promoted Verstappen from the junior outfit.

The Dutchman remarkably won on his debut at the 2016 Spanish GP, and matched Vettel’s haul of 38 at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. He’s now up to 61 after a historic period of dominance.

Verstappen only needs 11 more wins to match Michael Schumacher’s 72 with Ferrari. That would put him joint-second on the all-time of victories at a single team, only behind Lewis Hamilton (83 at Mercedes).

The 26-year-old is well on course to join Vettel as a four-time champion this year. At the halfway point of the campaign, he’s built up an 84-point lead over nearest challenger Lando Norris.

Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen is ‘more natural’ than Sebastian Vettel

Speaking to Grand Prix 247, Red Bull executive director Helmut Marko was asked to compare the two drivers. As the head of the team’s driver academy, he played a leading role in their ascent to greatness.

Marko believes that Verstappen doesn’t need to ‘warm up’ before he can deliver. Vettel, on the other hand, had to gradually build up his pace.

The Austrian marvels at the reigning world champion’s obsession with motorsport. Verstappen is an enthusiastic sim racer in his spare time.

• READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

“Each driver is different you know and we don’t really compare,” Marko said. “But Seb is a driver who works into each detail and needs a lot of technical feedback before he goes fast. But once he has everything under control, yeah, he’s delivering.

“Max is a more natural driver. He just jumps in the car and is quick. Max is just about racing. You know, after a Grand Prix. He jumps on his sim racing seat, which is very difficult for me to understand but he likes it.

“Both Seb and Max have their own opinion and are not shy to speak out. Seb like Max, just wants to have the best car and he lives his own life. But the commitment of Max is so unbelievable. The greatest advantage of Max is he doesn’t need any warm-up.”

Verstappen names one race where he nearly stopped amid vision problems

Another similarity between Vettel and Verstappen is that they both won their first championship at the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi. The former arrived at Yas Marina third in the standings behind Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber but he snatched glory by winning the race.

Verstappen’s triumph was even more dramatic, and bitterly controversial too. He passed Hamilton on the very last lap in 2010 after an error from race director Michael Masi led to a premature restart.

In a recent interview, Verstappen admitted that he nearly retired from the US Grand Prix in the decisive phase of the season as he experienced problems with his vision. These stemmed from his crash with Hamilton at Silverstone earlier in the year.

He still managed to win the race in Austin after a tense battle with the Mercedes driver. Vettel still regards Hamilton as the GOAT, but Verstappen may be coming for that moniker.