The one F1 driver who could beat Max Verstappen in a fair fight | F1 | Sport
Former Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese believes new Red Bull racer Isack Hadjar could be the first driver to trouble Max Verstappen as his team-mate for many years. However, the Italian is adamant that there is only one racer on the grid who could get the better of the Dutchman in equal machinery – and it isn’t Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris.
Verstappen is in a unique position among drivers representing the top F1 teams, in that he does not have to play politics when it comes to his team-mates. He has been the undisputed number one at Red Bull for many years and has seen off a string of very good drivers who have collapsed under the pressure of trying to hold a candle to the four-time world champion.
Hadjar is the latest to try, promoted from Racing Bulls after an impressive rookie season to replace Yuki Tsunoda, who has lost his place on the grid. The Japanese did not even get a full season alongside Verstappen at the main Red Bull team, having replaced Liam Lawson just two rounds into the 2025 campaign after the Kiwi was demoted back down to the sister squad.
Former Williams and Benetton F1 driver Patrese was impressed by what he saw from Hadjar last year and recently said he believes the Frenchman can go on to become an “exceptional” driver. And, if given the time to bed in, the Italian can foresee Hadjar giving Verstappen more of a challenge than his previous few team-mates.
“It will be difficult being number two to Max but, if you want to show to the world that you are a possible world champion, you need to compare yourself with a person like Max,” Patrese told Express Sport, via BetVictor. “Especially the first season, maybe he cannot beat Max – but he can put in a good performance against him.
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“Then, being close to a champion like him, he can learn a lot and maybe the next season he can really trouble Max, if he’s good enough. We’ll see. We saw last year that he was good and now he has a chance – not an easy chance, but everybody who is young coming into the sport has to fight with an experienced driver. He has to prove himself and believe in himself, otherwise you cannot believe that he can be good enough to be world champion.”
Patrese does not truly think Hadjar could beat Verstappen in the same Red Bull car, though, naming Charles Leclerc as the driver who he believes would have the best chance of doing that. The six-time F1 race winner added: “No doubt, Leclerc is the one man who is the person that could be the ‘anti-Max’.
“They have known each other since the karting days. Max went to Red Bull at the time that it became so good and Leclerc went to Ferrari where Ferrari was always a little bit twisty, not straight. But if you say, ‘Okay, equal cars.’ I should pick Leclerc.”
