"I think Verstappen is slightly above that" - Max Verstappen rated above Ayrton Senna as the best driver of all time by Gerhard Berger

Former F1 driver and race winner Gerhard Berger has placed Max Verstappen above Ayrton Senna as the best F1 driver of all time. The Austrian raced in Formula 1 for more than a decade and was even teammates with Senna at McLaren. For a long time, Berger has asserted that the Brazilian was the best driver of all time.

That assertion seems to have changed, and the Austrian now thinks that Max Verstappen has upstaged the legendary Ayrton Senna. The Dutch driver has had a terrific three-year run in F1.

Since 2021, Verstappen has won three titles with the last two in dominant fashion. The year 2023 was dominance personified as the Red Bull driver ended up winning as many as 19 races in a 22-race season.

Talking to Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, Gerhard Berger claimed that Max Verstappen had overtaken Ayrton Senna as the best driver of all time. He said:

"I said previously that Senna is the best driver of all time, but I think Verstappen is slightly above that. He has skills that I have never seen before, [but] it is necessary for the fans to have more winners. It is also interesting to see a perfect season, as last year."

"On the one hand from the team, there were no retirements due to technical problems, no delays at pit stops. And on the other hand, from the driver who drives to the limit and makes no mistakes," he added.

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Max Verstappen would be the benchmark in 2024

Looking ahead to the 2024 F1 season, Gerhard Berger singled out McLaren as one team that could potentially have something in the bag. He had high hopes for Ferrari as well, as the Italian team tries to bounce back this year.

However, the Austrian was quite firm in his assertion that Red Bull with Max Verstappen would continue to be the benchmark in F1. He said (via Kronen Zeitung):

"McLaren is well on its way. The team radiates calm and it can be very successful this season if they can take the next step. It is possible to become a strong competitor [of Red Bull], however, I see Ferrari as the second team. Fred Vasseur was new to the team last year and you have to give someone time."

Berger added:

"Now a year has passed, new people have been recruited and I think the team is capable of further taking a step forward. Despite this, we must not forget that Red Bull is the benchmark, with Max Verstappen, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner. [They have] such strong management, such a strong driver. It will be difficult to overtake them. I think they will ride from the front again and lead the field."

Max Verstappen is on a 3-year unbeaten run and it would be interesting to see if he can continue that into the next season.