Max Verstappen would have died on multiple occasions had he driven in Formula 1 during the 1980s, ex-McLaren driver Bruno Giacomelli claims.
After arriving on the grid back in 2015, the Dutchman quickly earned a reputation for aggressive manoeuvres and a flat-out approach which has made his rivals nervous when racing with him wheel-to-wheel.
Unsurprisingly, there have been times when that has backfired, with hefty accidents in Monaco in 2015, 2016 and 2018 just to name a few.
Since then, Verstappen has toned down his approach slightly, but Giacomelli claims only the increased safety of today’s cars and circuits have allowed him to do that.
“It means that Verstappen would have died at least three or four times if he had driven the cars of the 80’s I was driving,” he told Motorsport.com of Max’s fearlessness.
Also Read:
- Immaturity meant Verstappen ‘didn’t care’ and had ‘free will’ to race – Ricciardo
- Lauda: Too much safety in F1 could mean it ‘destroys itself’
“During accidents, I really felt fear. In those few seconds that an accident lasts, that you are conscious. The first thing you think and say is: I don’t want to hurt myself. What are you doing?
“You hold the steering wheel, try to get as stiff as possible and wait for the crash. That’s the moment of fear.”
Giacomelli isn’t the only driver unhappy at the risks today’s drivers are prepared to take, with three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart also very critical of the current generation.
“If someone behaved badly, the GPDA at the very next race had the person come in, in front of everybody and gave them such a bollocking and threat that they should never do anything of that nature again. It was a much more severe penalty for everyone!” Stewart told the F1 Nation podcast.
“There are more first-corner accidents today than there were in our day.
“People take liberties today that we could never have afforded and never have done and they take risks because they know it’s safer today.
“People do take liberties in a fashion we couldn’t have seen before. The cars were more fragile, the cockpits weren’t so robust.”
Of course, since the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994, fatalities have thankfully been fewer and further between.
But the loss of Jules Bianchi, Dan Wheldon and last year Anthoine Hubert have acted as reminders that motorsport will always remain dangerous to some degree.