Former Formula 1 driver Karen Chandhok has pinpointed the driving quality that puts him on the "same category as Schumacher and Hamilton." Chandhok says he saw 'amazing car control' from the Dutchman during his first year in F1 at pre-season testing with Toro Rosso at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. “I remember at Barcelona [he was] in the Toro Rosso for preseason testing," said Chandhok in an interview with GIVEMESPORT . "I went to watch at turn four and every lap he turned in the back of the car had this like pendulum effect. But he just got on throttle and drove out of it. "I was thinking ‘there's no way he can do that every lap, it's impossible.’ But he did, I watched him for three days at Barcelona testing at different corners and every lap he did the same thing. "He had this amazing car control and confidence, which was just extraordinary. I remember seeing that with Lewis for the first time - they're so good." After going in to see engineer Jody Egginton to ask if Verstappen had destroyed the tyres with his driving style, Chandhok was in for a surprise when he saw the data. “I went back to the pits to speak to Jody Egginton, who is now the Technical Director at AlphaTauri. I think he was Chief Race Engineer and I said ‘surely this guy is destroying his tyres driving that way,'" he said. "But his tyres were better than [then team-mate] Carlos [Sainz’s]. His feel of the tyre and the car control, it’s that sort of stuff which I think people don't realise just how talented and how good he is.”
Chandhok: Verstappen not getting fair judgement of talent
Chandhok looked back to Verstappen's time in Formula 3 to give an example of how much more skill the Dutchman seemed to have versus his competitors. He added: “I don't think he's getting a fair judgement of his talent and abilities. I saw Max first in Formula 3. I remember watching him at a track. "All these guys went out of the pit lane and you can see everyone building up and getting quicker and quicker. "And then there's one car that came through on this first flying lap, and he must have been going 15/20 kph faster than anybody else. "You just go like, ‘holy s*** what is happening there? How is this guy holding on?’ It was quite amazing."
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