Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz believes young prodigy Max Verstappen may turn out to be just as formidable as the legendary Ayrton Senna.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca, the Austrian praised Verstappen's talent and performance while insisting his full potential still remains to be fulfilled.
Asked whether he could be compared to the great Ayrton Senna, Mateschitz said he could.
"If you consider his natural talent, his mental strength and the courage he has shown in the races, then yes," said the 72-year-old.
"But he also needs to be capable of keeping his speed, his skills and his strength up for a period of several years. Nobody knows if that will happen, but we believe he has the potential."
But Mateschitz also underlined the achievements of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, although he acknowledged the Italian team's current form did not do justice to the young Spanish driver's talent.
"Carlos is a great sportsman, with a great personality, charisma and talent. His problem is that with Max and Daniel we already have two great drivers at Red Bull, and the performance of the Toro Rosso is not strong enough to challenge the leading drivers at Mercedes and Red Bull.
"I firmly believe that it will be good for Carlos to stay with our rookie team next another year, especially since we hope to improve significantly the performance of the car."
Last year, in the wake of a bitter dispute between Red Bull and engine supplier Renault, the energy drink company threatened to pull out of Formula 1 if it lacked a competitive power unit.
But Mateschitz said the threat at the time was not a serious one.
"Really, we never thought about it. Although, in theory, there were always circumstances that could have made us go down that route, like for example, the obvious case of not having been able to secure a power unit supplier."
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