Even Max Verstappen’s fiercest critics will admit he’s one of Formula 1’s all-time greats, but the best ever? Well that conversation is starting.

The Red Bull No.1 has won four straight world titles, downing Lewis Hamilton in a titanic but controversial bout in 2021, before breaking records for dominance in 2022 and 2023.

Yet 2024 may have been the best of the lot, given that Red Bull had the third-fastest car in Formula 1 for much of the season – and Verstappen outperformed it.

In a true test of F1 greats he consistently dragged a Red Bull car to the podium that his teammate could barely drive, and summed it all up with arguably his best-ever race – going from 17th to win at a rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix in November.

This year Red Bull have arguably the fourth-fastest car, while McLaren are even further ahead, and should Verstappen again pass that test of greatness for a fifth title, the conversation certainly changes.

Ahead of him would be Hamilton and the great Michael Schumacher on seven titles each, but someone who raced against both of them thinks Verstappen may well already be ahead.

Jaime Alguersuari was F1’s youngest-ever driver at the age of 19 in 2009, a record later broken by 17-year-old Verstappen with the same Toro Rosso team.

Explaining what makes the Dutchman so brilliant, he told talkSPORT.com: “We have to understand Max probably is the best driver ever in F1.

“And that’s because of his whole education, because of his whole experience, his whole mindset, it’s unbelievable to see what he did in Australia and especially driving a car which is not at all the best on the grid.

“He’s just able to drive with every kind of situation or problem in a better way than anybody else. And that’s it. It’s simple.

“[It’s his] intelligence, how he reads the car, how he feels the car, how he manages the tyres, the race, how he performs when he’s out of the car and understands the dynamics.

“It’s a lot in Formula 1. It’s a lot of work going out behind the scenes. When you take your helmet off, you go back to the factory and you want to make sure how you want this car to perform and how do you want this car to be set up.

“How do you understand the dynamics of the car when you are out of the car. So there’s a lot of things going on when you remove your helmet.”

So good is Verstappen, that being Red Bull’s No.2 driver has become the worst job in F1.

Not since 2017 with Daniel Ricciardo has a teammate been anywhere near his pace, and after a terrible 2024, six-time race-winner Sergio Perez was scrapped for Liam Lawson.

However, Lawson has now been sent down to sister team Racing Bulls after just two Grand Prix, with Yuki Tsunoda swapping seats for his home Japanese Grand Prix.

Yet whoever team principal Christian Horner and head of driver development Helmut Marko put in, Aguersuari is sure they’ll have a bad time.

“This is something out of every driver’s dimension,” he explained.

“So whoever you put in this car beside Max is not going to look great. Probably would look a bit closer. But I don’t think anyone in the grid would beat Max.

“I don’t personally think that he [Lawson] would naturally beat Max because I think Max is in a different dimension. But as I said, it’s not just Liam, it’s against everyone.”

Some have suggested that there must be something wrong with the second Red Bull car and that it’s too biased towards Verstappen’s driving style.

However, Alguersuari has explained from a driver’s perspective why that’s nonsense.

“There’s this whole story that the car is built around Max. There’s no engineer in the world that builds a car for a certain driving style,” he explained.

“All drivers know that an understeering car is definitely slower than a slightly pointy oversteering car. That’s crystal clear since you drive in Formula Ford or Formula 3 or Formula 4 or whatever.

“But then during the weekend, you just develop your setup with your engineer, with weight transfers, with sprints, with the height of the car. And then you have your driving style.

“It’s crystal clear that Max has a very pointy driving style and a very certain driving style, which he has developed during years and experience and knowledge, which is unbelievable the way he drives and the way he just performs.

“Nobody is able, and I want to be very clear with that, nobody is able to cope with the problems that Max might be able to feel.

“Let’s say he starts to feel grainy on the front left and starts to feel understeer. And the way he handles certain situations, certain problems with his car, nobody is able to cope with those problems as he does.

“So let’s understand this for real. It’s not that Red Bull has developed a car that only fits this kind of driving style. No, you are able to go in that car, but then you have to understand how to drive this car.

“Max understands how to drive every single situation under every single circumstance because he has been trained and he has the talent enough to feel every single sensation or finding grip in an incredible and such an unbelievable way that nobody is able to feel and find.”

Despite Red Bull’s well-publicised struggles this term, Verstappen has a second and fourth place this season, and is second behind Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship after two races.