Max Verstappen will improve even more in the future, according to Franz Tost, who compared him to Michael Schumacher in a warning to the rest of the Formula 1 grid.

Franz Tost, the team manager of AlphaTauri, claims that latest World Champion Max Verstappen has not yet reached his full ability in Formula 1.

Verstappen, who was 17 at the time, made his Formula One start for Toro Rosso at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix underneath the direction of Tost. He was subsequently moved to the main Red Bull team early in 2016 and won on his first outing for them in Spain.

Verstappen made his maiden attempt at the World Championship in ’21, narrowly defeating Lewis Hamilton in the Abu Dhabi final season under questionable circumstances after only competing for the occasional victory between ’16 and ’20.

Verstappen currently leads Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 80 points in the Drivers’ rankings with 9 Grands Prix remaining in the 22 season, and he appears destined to win a second championship.

Tost is of the opinion that his former charge hasn’t attained his full potential and will simply keep raising the standard for himself.

Verstappen is expected by Tost to get even better

“We had to take criticism when we entrusted the Toro Rosso to him [Verstappen] at the age of 17 – someone who didn’t even have a driver’s licence!” Tost explained to German publication F1-Insider.

“He also completed his first practice session in Suzuka (in 2014, days after his 17th birthday), one of the most difficult tracks of all, but he handled everything confidently.

“He never had any problems with the high speed of a Formula 1 car, and always had everything under control from the start.

“In his first races he was sometimes a little too aggressive, and this sometimes led to a crash, for example in Monaco [in 2015] with Romain Grosjean.

“But today he drives at an extremely high level – we still haven’t seen the maximum from him yet!

“Only Charles Leclerc can come close to keeping up – the ravages of time have already gnawed at Lewis Hamilton.”

Verstappen’s comparison to Schumacher by Tost

Tost claims that there were similarities between Verstappen and Michael Schumacher, despite the fact that they never collaborated on an F1 project. Tost tried to sign the young German as he rose through the junior ranks.

“I first met Max with his father at the Nurburgring and, at that time, he was still karting,” added Tost.

“The next time was at the Norisring in Formula 3 (in 2014, where he won all three races, following on from another hat-trick at Spa-Francorchamps).

“In the rain, he drove in a league of his own, as if he was the only one who had discovered a dry line.

“He immediately reminded me of Michael Schumacher – you could see what [a] mega talent Max was.”

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