Racing
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Kimi Raikkonen says Max Verstappen is the strongest driver in Formula 1 today, and he traces that verdict back to the day he watched the Dutchman win his first race in Spain in 2016.
Asked by Quotidiano Sportivo who he considers the best driver on the current grid, the 2007 world champion and former Ferrari driver gave an immediate answer. “Verstappen! I saw him arrive in F1 during my second stint at Ferrari. Max is a phenomenon. He won his first race in Spain right in front of me, ten years ago. That’s when I realised a star was born,” Raikkonen said.
The force of that endorsement comes from where Raikkonen was standing when Verstappen made that breakthrough. He was the Ferrari driver who finished behind him in Barcelona, giving Raikkonen a direct view of the race that became one of the defining moments of Verstappen’s early career.
That victory came at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya, when Verstappen was only 18 and making his first appearance for Red Bull Racing after replacing Daniil Kvyat. In a race shaped early by the collision between the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Verstappen took the opportunity and held off both Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel to secure his maiden Formula 1 win.
The circumstances made the result stand out even more. Drivers can arrive at a top team with expectation around them, but winning on a debut for that team is rare enough. Doing it at 18, while managing pressure from two Ferraris behind, turned Verstappen’s promotion into an immediate statement. For Raikkonen, it was not just a talented young driver scoring his first victory. It was the point at which potential became something more concrete.
Raikkonen had already seen Verstappen arrive in Formula 1 during his second spell at Ferrari, so his assessment is rooted in more than a single afternoon. Still, the Spain reference is telling. Rather than point to a title run or a later phase of Verstappen’s career, he chose the race where Verstappen first showed he could absorb pressure at the front and convert a sudden chance into a win.
That view is now backed by what followed. Verstappen, now 28, has won four world titles between 2021 and 2024 and built a record of 71 victories, 128 podiums and 48 pole positions. Raikkonen’s recollection of Barcelona therefore reads less like nostalgia than recognition of the moment a future champion first made himself impossible to ignore.
Verstappen’s standing has also drawn praise from outside Formula 1. Four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou said Verstappen would “be looked back on in 10 years and called the best driver ever,” comparing him to Michael Schumacher. Raikkonen’s judgment is narrower and more immediate, but it lands from someone who saw the decisive early sign up close, from the Ferrari behind.