Felipe Massa has hailed Max Verstappen as the ‘absolute number one on the grid’ and believes his fourth Formula 1 world title is imminent. He also praises the Dutchman’s racing mentality.
“Max is a complete driver. He has everything, in terms of speed and mentality. He’s a tremendous fighter. For him, it’s all about racing, he’s not interested in anything else,” the Brazilian stated in the run-up to the Grand Prix of Las Vegas.
Massa, who won eleven races in his own F1 career and came very close to the world title in 2008, believes that Verstappen as a driver is much further along than his title rival Lando Norris. In his eyes, the reigning world champion from Red Bull is particularly stronger mentally.
‘I love Max’s mentality’
Massa: “Max drives aggressively, on the edge and sometimes a bit over it. Lando is less like that. For me, Max is clearly the number one. I personally love his mentality. I think I would have gone further in my own career if I had more of Max’s mentality. I was sometimes too kind, too nice. I was perhaps more like Lando.
Massa acknowledges the development of the McLaren driver this season. “Don’t forget, this was his first season competing for a championship, and against someone like Max Verstappen at that. It’s not easy. But you can see he’s changing. He’s becoming tougher. In other words, he’s learning. So, next year or the year after, things might already be different.”
‘What FIA is doing makes no sense’
Finally, Massa also has no good words for the FIA’s stance on the penalties imposed on Verstappen and later Charles Leclerc for using the word ‘fuck’ earlier this season.
Massa, who is himself currently embroiled in a legal battle with the FIA among others over the 2008 world title: “What the FIA is doing makes no sense. I mean, the drivers are fighting with everything they have for the world championship. When you can’t even say something when you’re angry, come on. Put a microphone under a footballer’s nose during a match and you’ll hear much worse things. Moreover, Max didn’t insult anyone, he just said his own car was bad. So, I completely disagreed with the FIA’s penalty. Drivers understand themselves what they can and cannot say, the FIA doesn’t need to interfere.”
