Jody Scheckter admits his opinion of 26-year-old F1 driver has completely changed

Follow us on Google Discover

Formula 1 legend Jody Scheckter has admitted his opinion of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has completely changed.

There’s very little left to be said about the dominance of Max Verstappen in 2023.

Scheckter was speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport and reflecting on his phenomenal campaign.

After winning nearly every race of the year, the Dutchman now has the difficult task of repeating that feat next year when the grid will likely close up.

Although the 26-year-old wasn’t able to dominate every qualifying session throughout the season, the Red Bull’s pace on race day was unrivalled.

Even his teammate Sergio Perez didn’t stand a chance despite winning a couple of races at the beginning of the season.

However, Jody Scheckter has admitted that his opinion of Max Verstappen has changed throughout his time at Red Bull.

The Dutchman was much more boisterous at the start of his career and wasn’t afraid of launching some ambitious moves on his rivals that weren’t always well received.

It’s hard to know whether he’s calmed down or not considering he barely needed to overtake anyone throughout 2023 and instead used his car’s immense pace and a combination of overcuts and undercuts to take the lead whenever he wasn’t winning.

Scheckter admits Red Bull star Verstappen would have dominated his generation

Speaking about the 26-year-old, Scheckter said: “No, he’s better than all those who raced in my era.

“The difference, which is always brought out and sometimes rhetorically, is that back then we were said to be “real men”, who took risks.

“And the cars broke down often, not Ferrari but Tyrrell for example. I realised afterwards that I was lucky: my greatest success was staying alive, and I never even ended up on a helicopter to the hospital.

“I started out a bit reckless, like everyone, as a young person you try to demonstrate talent and courage.

“Max [Verstappen] did it too and I didn’t like how he ran at the beginning of his career: he didn’t show respect for others.

“Then, and it happened to him too, you understand that you don’t win races and especially the championships causing accidents or continuous contact with others.”

It will be interesting if Scheckter still feels the same way about Verstappen’s driving style if Red Bull aren’t as dominant in the future.

If Verstappen is forced to make his way through the pack then it will be interesting to see if he’s still willing to try some of the moves that as a younger driver didn’t make him the most popular person on the grid.

His winner’s mentality is impossible to ignore though and it’s no wonder that Schecker believes he would have been a star even during his era of racing.