Red Bull team boss Christian Horner reckons Max Verstappen is "the best driver in the world", after being asked to compare him to reigning Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
The Dutch driver is currently third in the championship standings, behind only Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, thanks to his Austrian victory last time out where he drove a brilliant race to battle back from a poor start.
Horner truly believes Verstappen is the best there is: "As the driver in the form of his life, arguably over the past 12 months, he's been the best driver in the world," he is quoted as saying by Autosport.
"How do I substantiate that? He's not in the best car. But when you look at the results he's got out of that car since Montreal last year, some of the performances he's put in, he's made virtually zero mistakes in that period."
Verstappen has won three races since last year's Canadian GP, finished on the podium a further 10 times and hasn't been classified lower than fifth (excluding retirements through reliability).
While many would argue that Hamilton is the best in the sport having won four championships in five seasons, Horner said he would "absolutely back Max" to beat the Briton in the same car.
"It's only natural that there's always the next generation coming. Lewis has got the benefit of experience, he's still extremely quick, he's in the best car, in a very well-oiled machine.
"Max is very much the coming man. Wouldn't it be fantastic for the sport to see those guys go head-to-head?"
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