Verstappen 'the most popular driver worldwide' - Marko

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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen is now the most popular F1 driver in the world.

Verstappen has made a huge impact since entering F1 with Toro Rosso at the age of 17 last season, earning a promotion to Red Bull this year and duly winning his first race with the team. While the Dutchman has come in for criticism for his driving during this season, Marko believes Verstappen has been empowered both by the exuberance of youth and also the reaction from fans.

"Probably we are lacking strong personalities lately," Marko told the official Formula One website. "On top, there are drivers doing their last season, so they are complaining about Max, about safety, about anything.

"With Max, here is someone who is really young with a strong idea of what he wants - and he is not shy of trying to get it, of trying to be successful. And the reaction of the fans plays to his advantage. I would say he is probably now the most popular driver on the grid - worldwide."

And Marko believes the impact being made by Verstappen is nothing new, having seen previous champions unsettled by the arrival of new talent.

"Nothing is justified," Marko said of the recent criticism. "Max is a different calibre. He has the traits of a future world champion and he is just doing what is necessary to get there. It obviously surprises some that this also involves overtaking and defending. If there had been something gravely wrong the stewards would have penalised him.

"It is a bit like when Michael Schumacher came in. I remember a race in Hockenheim when there was nearly a fistfight between him and Ayrton Senna - Senna the top dog at this time and Schumacher the new hopeful…"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.