Former F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone ranks Max Verstappen higher than Alain Prost, though Lewis Hamilton gets a special mention.

Even before he took the reins of the sport, as a driver manager and even as a driver - though he failed to start the two grands prix he entered - Bernie Ecclestone has witnessed the history of F1 from the outset.

Always a controversial figure, the Briton had previously ranked Alain Prost as his personal GOAT (greatest of all time), but now admits that Max Verstappen has surpassed the French, four-time world champion.

"Max is the best driver ever," he told the Daily Mail. "No doubts.

"I used to say Alain Prost," he added. "Now I would say Max. He's the greatest. He is the brightest with regards to getting the best out of the car. He doesn't muck around, he gets right on the programme. In my list he is above Lewis Hamilton."

Explaining what he sees as the difference between Verstappen and Hamilton, Ecclestone said: "Lewis is obviously super, super bright, super, super talented.

"Lewis understands people and gets the best out of them, whereas Max gets the best out of the car.

"He's very different from Max,” he continued. "When Lewis stops racing, he can get into a different world, entertainment or whatever, but that won't be the way Max could go.

"I tell you, Max is one of us in our sphere of Formula 1, nobody is like Lewis, nobody is."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Defiant, 03/10/2023 18:25

"Don't get me wrong, I actually miss Bernie and his comments. I'd prefer his dictatorship over what Fiberty has given us, its that I don't think Bernie really tells the public what he really thinks or feels in all matters.
I also think he possesses a sharp mind and that is the very reason that he doesn't share everything truthfully."

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2. Posted by kenji, 03/10/2023 10:41

"For what it's worth I still enjoy Bernie's controversial comments. At his not insignificant age he is stiil 'sharp' and beholden to no one. Just the way it should be. One doesn't have to slavishly agree with him but at the same time dissect what he is saying and find the genesis of his thought/expression. It can be simply illuminating...to say the least."

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3. Posted by Stitch431, 03/10/2023 6:48

"Yes, Bernie likes to poke a fire, but he still has a mind as sharp as a razor, and! He is the only one still alive to have known personally the best of the last 4 decades at least. Lewis is great but can be beaten if put on the wrong foot psychologically as Rosberg proved in the one year he became champion. Max only concentrates on the racing part of the job and is, like Ricciardo named him once, a racing nerd. He does not need to play mind games like Lewis. He gets the best out of the car and beats the guys ON track, not off the track. That is my personal opinion and underlines Bernie's ;-)"

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4. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 02/10/2023 21:57

"Is this the same Ecclestone who announced to the world that he admired the way Hitler was “able to get things done”? "

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5. Posted by Defiant, 02/10/2023 18:48

"I don't think Bernie has ever truly shared what he thinks to matters like this, he says things to kick a hornets nest for his own amusement. I bet behind closed doors he has a very different choice."

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6. Posted by Paulinho, 02/10/2023 14:45

"I'd almost forgotten who "Bernie" was.. almost. "

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7. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 02/10/2023 14:38

"Winning a championship on at least two different teams should be a prerequisite for GOAT status."

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8. Posted by Spindoctor, 02/10/2023 14:04

"Ecclestone just loves to be "controversial", to the extent that he'll say anything for the craic.
I'm sure he's perfectly well aware that, as has been eloquently pointed-out, you can barely compare drivers in the same era\generation of cars unless they're driving the same car; let alone across generations.

Definitely agree that Hamilton is cut from a different cloth to Verstappen, so he got that right....."

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9. Posted by kenji, 02/10/2023 13:51

"@KKK....I agree with your sentiment in the main but would like to add that a driver like Max provides the 'icing on top of the cake'. "

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10. Posted by JamesD, 02/10/2023 13:43

"The whole GOAT thing is nonsense. How can anyone say that someone is the greatest of all time in any sport ? It all depends on the resources that person had at the time.

Bernie, the man that is so with it that he turned up to an airport in Brazil with a gun in his luggage and said he didn't realise he'd packed it !!"

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11. Posted by Endre, 02/10/2023 12:24

"Max may be up there, but the names of Fangio and Senna come to mind ..."

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12. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 02/10/2023 12:16

"So much for Michael Schumacher."

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13. Posted by KKK, 02/10/2023 12:02

"The only way you could tell who is the greatest, is to put them in the same car. What goes round comes round. If Lewis was in a Red Bull you wouldnt see him for dust. Its the car, not the driver"

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14. Posted by Hobgoblin, 02/10/2023 11:45

"So. Bernie, and the Daily Mail..."

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15. Posted by Max Noble, 02/10/2023 11:06

"Brutal but, well, true. Lewis is a one of a kind, Max is a different one of a kind. Both being better drivers than I…"

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Verstappen is the GOAT, declares Ecclestone

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