Max Verstappen gives opinion on ‘best driver in the world’ debate after Kyle Larson comments

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Max Verstappen has weighed in on the ‘best driver in the world’ argument following recent comments from NASCAR driver Kyle Lawson.

Larson claimed he would be comfortably a better ‘all-around’ driver than Max Verstappen, which was met with some backlash over whether he would be able to win races or championships like the Dutchman.

In his NASCAR career, Larson has won one championship so far in 2021, while his overall wins are 27 with 21 poles since joining the grid in 2013. By contrast, Verstappen is now on 61 Grand Prix victories in Formula 1 and has achieved 40 podiums since he joined the grid in 2015.

Former F1 driver Gerhard Berger recently claimed Verstappen is the ‘best we have ever seen’ and believes he is better than Lewis Hamilton in first-corner duels.

When asked to name the best driver in the world in an interview with Ash Vandelay on X (formerly Twitter), Verstappen offered his opinion on the whole debate.

Max Verstappen weighs in on ‘best driver’ debate

The question of who is the best driver in the world is tough to answer due to the amount of variables and disciplines of motorsport.

Some drivers, including Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Fernando Alonso have crossed between F1 and other championships such as NASCAR and IndyCar during their careers.

Discussing who he thinks is the best driver in the world, Verstappen offered a nuanced response: “Honestly, I think we should not have that debate because everyone is good in their own right.

“I wouldn’t be good in dirt, for example, maybe if I would practice? Because at the end of the day, a good racing driver picks up things quite quickly.”

Max Verstappen’s impressive F1 stats

Verstappen’s 2023 campaign was one of the most impressive in F1 history, having put himself third on the all-time win list behind Michael Schumacher (91 wins) and Hamilton (105 wins).

The Dutchman has won 29% of his 199 Grand Prix entries to date since 2015 compared to Hamilton, who has only achieved 31% of his 346 entries since 2007.

Verstappen has previously named his favourite drivers of all time in F1, including Hamilton and Schumacher but leaving out Sebastian Vettel in his list of five drivers.

But unlike most of the drivers on that list, Verstappen has yet to race alongside a World Champion as his teammate.