Cristiano Ronaldo has been hailed by Max Verstappen as a “great example” of how he has adjusted his game to stay at the top.
The 23-year-old Red Bull Racing driver is having the finest season of his Formula One career thus far.
While Verstappen strives for his first championship, he is still a long way from matching Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton’s seven crowns.
In the twenty-first century, both men have dominated the sport. And if there’s one thing they all have in common, it’s that they won the majority of their championships in their thirties.
Verstappen, who holds multiple F1 records for being the youngest driver, has now acknowledged the value of experience in a sport since it helps elderly sportsmen to react to events better than their younger selves.
He used the example of Ronaldo, who became the joint-leading scorer in international football history at the age of 36.
“It’s like a football player – they can lose a little speed now and again, but they can compensate by reading the situation better than maybe five years before when they would sprint a little faster but not really comprehend the awareness,” the Dutchman explained to Crash.net.
“Ronaldo, in my opinion, is an outstanding example. He’s not running as fast as he was five or six years ago, because you slow down as you get older when it comes to pure running.
“However, I believe he grows via awareness and just by his experiences on the pitch, for example.”
Follow us on:
