“Maybe we just have to appreciate that Max Verstappen is a bit of a winner": David Croft shares admiration for the Red Bull driver

F1 commentator David Croft was full of praise for the Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and termed him a "winner". The Dutch driver became only the fifth man in F1 history to win four consecutive world championships in 2024 after he displayed excellent resilience despite not having the most dominant car on the grid for two-thirds of the season.

The 27-year-old maximized his results throughout the campaign and sometimes even went over the limit to stop his title rival and McLaren driver Lando Norris from closing up the gap in the championship.

Speaking at the Autosport International 2025 event, Sky Sports F1 pundit David Croft defended Max Verstappen's controversial antics on the grid and compared him to the likes of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. He said that the Dutchman would do anything to win:

“I’ve always liked Max. I’ve liked him since he first drove in Japan, I think it was, in FP1, because he’s got so much talent, and I appreciate talent. Michael Schumacher, we love Michael Schumacher. We love Lewis Hamilton. They’re winners, they’re champions. We love Sebastian Vettel. For all those years, winning four Titles as well.

"But he did what he had to do to win, and if his teammate got in the way of that and was collateral damage, as it were, then so be it, that didn’t matter. He was a winner. And maybe we just have to appreciate that Max is a bit of a winner. And we should actually celebrate the fact that for four years, he’s been at the top." Croft said.

Max Verstappen has led the driver's standings since Spain 2022 and has not been surpassed by any F1 driver on the grid since.

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F1 pundit heaps praise on Max Verstappen's extra capacity in a car

Former IndyCar driver and F1 pundit James Hinchcliff stated that he was impressed by the extra mental capacity of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen during races. While appearing on the Red Flags Podcast, Hinchcliff said:

"One of the things we talk about Verstappen a lot is just the, the reserve capacity he has when he's driving a Formula One car, like the mental capacity that he has in reserve on hand when he is 10 tenths, flat out, leading a race, managing tyres, managing everything." he said.

He concluded his comments by claiming that "Max Verstappen was good at everything" as he was in his race management whilst driving the car to its maximum potential.

The Red Bull driver will return to the 2025 season in his quest to become only the fourth driver in F1 history to become a five-time world champion and only the second behind Michael Schumacher to do it in consecutive years.