Max Verstappen and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are both legends of their respective sports, and the Dutchman previously compared himself to the football player during his rookie season of Formula 1.
Widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the modern landscape of football, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s level of self-confidence is enormous.
The former Swedish international and PSG legend became a fan favourite in post-match press conferences. His candid and outspoken personality often culminated in controversial remarks over the inferiority of his peers.
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, is equally as blunt but more reserved in that he knows of his talents in an F1 car, and he also knows that everybody else who tunes in on a Sunday afternoon is aware of how talented he is.
However, as a wide-eyed and sometimes brash teenager in Formula 1, he often stepped on people’s toes and rubbed certain legends of the sport the wrong way.
Max Verstappen compared himself to Zlatan Ibrahimovic after concerns over his driving style were raised
After being given the nod to replace Daniil Kvyat at the front-running Red Bull F1 outfit during the middle of the 2016 season, Verstappen stunned the world by taking his maiden Grand Prix victory in his first-ever race for the Austrian constructor.
He managed to fend off the Ferrari world championship-winning duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen on his race to the chequered flag, but it wouldn’t take long for him to get on the wrong side of them.
Later on in the season, at the Belgian Grand Prix, the Dutchman attempted an opportunistic move on both Ferrari drivers at turn one after suffering from a poor getaway.
The term is often coined a ‘dive-bomb’, and it sent Vettel into a spin and resulted in all three drivers entering the pit lane for repairs at the end of the lap.
Raikkonen and Vettel were furious with the move, and rightly so. When pulled up on the highly ambitious manoeuvre by reporters following the race, the Dutchman shot back an interesting comparison of himself to Ibrahimovic.
He said, via The Guardian, “You have to see it like this. Let’s say you put Ibrahimovic in terms of attacking you; you put him up as a defender.
“Would he like it just because other people think he is a better defender? I don’t think he will listen to those guys.
“If he likes to attack, he wants to attack. It is not because other drivers tell me I have to change my driving style that I will change my driving style.”
Max Verstappen has since refined his racecraft into a precise and calculated driving style
Since his words that day, Verstappen has gone on to win 70 Grands Prix and write his name in the F1 history books as a four-time world champion.
In that time, the now-28-year-old has matured into one of the greatest drivers of all time in the sport, and he has taken several rookie drivers under his wing to guide them through the turbulent career of being an F1 driver.
Only two other drivers on the current grid have a similar calibre of experience to Verstappen, and he has developed a reputation of being a stone-cold machine who ekes out the maximum potential of every car he is put in the cockpit of.
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