Coulthard Praises Verstappen Labels Hamilton Steady

Coulthard commends Verstappen’s prowess and highlights Hamilton’s understated approach.

David Coulthard is convinced that Max Verstappen already ranks among the greatest drivers in the history of the World Championship. The former Red Bull driver commends the three-time world champion and affirms that he awards him this status.

“Yes, absolutely. Only those harbouring an underlying aversion to him and his success, along with those questioning whether he was in the best car, all those making excuses… Sport has always been a way to identify the exceptional,” notes Coulthard.

“All Grand Prix drivers are good. All footballers are good. All tennis players are good. But we want to see the exceptional. And exceptional drivers find a way to get into the right cars.”

“They find ways to navigate problems. They’re not perfect. Of course not, they’re human beings, so they make mistakes occasionally, but their book of excuses is very thin. It might just be a single piece of paper. Mine was a novel!”

Verstappen and Hamilton are “complete drivers”

Coulthard believes that Verstappen is a driver in the same vein as Lewis Hamilton, albeit slightly less predictable: “What unites them is exceptional speed, under pressure, the ability to deliver a lap in qualifying, which makes the rest of the weekend so much easier.”

“And then the other key element, because there have been drivers who were brilliant in qualifiers, but for one reason or another couldn’t sustain that. I would have thought the hardest thing was to be able to drive exceptionally fast, but they are, in the case of Lewis and in the case of Max, complete drivers.”

“They can spot opportunities, they can create them. They can pull off some impressive manoeuvres on occasion. Although I must say that Lewis is, I think, a slightly less controversial driver on the track when it comes to taking a risk and seeing what happens.”

“By controversial, I mean Verstappen creates moments where you think ‘oh, what’s going to happen just now? Is there going to be contact?’ But in reality, he knows his car, he knows the track. They are proficient in all areas, they excel in the wet, they excel in wheel-to-wheel racing, in everything.”