New Toro Rosso signing Max Verstappen is most like Ayrton Senna according to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko.
The 16-year-old will make the step from a single season of Formula 3 to racing against Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso next year.
Verstappen recently compared his driving style to that of Fernando Alonso, but when Marko was asked to compare the young Dutch driver to another, he chose none other than Senna – often regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time.
“He is an exceptional talent that comes along only once in decades,” the Austrian told the official F1 website.
“You must not look at his age,” he insists despite some criticism that he is too young. “He has been talking with people who are experts when it comes to the development of youngsters and they all say that [in terms of] his mind he is more like 22 than 16.”
When asked to compare him to another driver, Marko said: “Most likely Ayrton Senna.
“Regarding his skills behind the steering wheel, he has been racing since he was four years old – professionally.
“So we expect him to be competitive from the first race.”
Marko is certain he and Red Bull know what they’re doing as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Kvyat are evidence that their young driver programme works.
“We are not playing the lottery – we know what we are doing and [our past] success proves us right.”
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