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Somehow, words uttered on a dirt track in central Iowa have reverberated throughout the motorsports world around the world.
Kyle Larson, the mild-mannered NASCAR star who just won the Knoxville Nationals, the biggest sprint car race in the world, for the third time in four years, has made a startling claim.
“In my mind, I know I'm a better all-around driver than him,” Larson said of three-time Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen, according to FloSports. “There's no way he can win the Knoxville Nationals in a sprint car. There's no way he can win the Chili Bowl. There's no way he can win a Cup race at Bristol.”
“…That gives me a sense of security and confidence, because I know I'm better than him. Maybe not in an open-wheel Indycar or an F1 car, but that's one area. In everything else I think I can beat him. I can quote you.”
Many American racing fans read Larson's comments and thought he was right, but in Europe it was met with ridicule.
“That's fine,” Verstappen said on Thursday when asked about the comments made by The Athletic's Luke Smith. “Everyone has their own opinion, right?”
So where does the truth lie?
The Athletic's F1 reporters Smith and Madeline Coleman, along with NASCAR reporters Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi, had the pleasure of sorting through the debate in a roundtable discussion ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.
Going deeper
Prime tyres: F1 action ahead of Dutch GP, a guide to Kyle Larson's comments on Verstappen
Firstly, what does the best “all-around driver” mean to you? Is it pure talent? Versatility? Or something else?
Smith: It's a combination of talent, versatility and sheer speed. I've always felt that the ability to adapt to different cars is what sets a driver apart and takes them out of the “bubble” of a single series or race. It's a disappearing art compared to the 1950s and 1960s, when F1 drivers were regularly competing in the Indy 500 and Le Mans, but I believe it still has great influence in the world of motorsport.
Coleman: When I went to Monaco earlier this year I spoke to Jenson Button about driving in different races and he said, “I don't think you can consider yourself the best driver in the world unless you race and are competitive in other categories.” I agree. The key is to be competitive across a wide range of racing disciplines. That can be difficult because your rivals have trained for that type of car and that's their life. It requires versatility and pure talent.
Gluck: Racing is very specialized these days. Therefore, the best “all-round” driver has to be one who has had success in multiple categories. Outside of that, a simple test is to see how quickly a person gets up to speed when switching to a different type of car. Does he fall way off the pace or does he adapt by quickly getting into respectable territory in lap times? It's easy to say someone is the best when they dominate one form of racing, but nowadays it's a rare and unique skill to make the leap and win in a different discipline.
Verstappen is the best driver in world racing. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Bianchi: Winning multiple times in multiple disciplines is the gold standard. The best drivers are willing to push themselves beyond their comfort zone to seize success. This is part of why the likes of Larson, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti and Tony Stewart are celebrated. Unfortunately, the current environment effectively prohibits drivers from experimenting, making the “Who is better, Verstappen or Larson?” debate even more complicated, because we'll probably never see them go head to head.
So… do you think Larsson's claims are correct? Is it possible that he really is a better all-round driver than Verstappen?
Smith: No. I think people have seriously underestimated Max Verstappen. He started in F1 at 17, won at 18 and became one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. He continued to win races even in years when he didn't have the fastest car. He just hasn't had the chance (or, more accurately, the time) to prove it in other categories yet.
Going deeper
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Coleman: I wholeheartedly agree with Luke. Larson underestimates Verstappen's talent and passion for motorsport. F1 requires a huge amount of time, with him racing in more than 20 countries from March to December this year. He hasn't raced in any other category yet, but he tested a GT3 car earlier this year and adapted quickly. Lorenz Frei-Hilti, team principal of DTM team Emil Frei, told Motorsport-Total.com: “He gets in the car and performs on the first flying laps. When you look at his on-board data and the data, the way he handles the car is very impressive. You can see how quickly he adapts to the car and how he is always trying to get the most out of it.”
“There were other GT3 cars on display at the venue, and all I can say is that this car is on a different level than any of the others.”
That being said, it would be great to see Verstappen race at the Chili Bowl Nationals.
Gluck: Of course, that's true. Verstappen is the best driver in the world's top motorsports. That alone says a lot. Getting to F1 is a testament to elite talent, and it's rare to find a driver who is so dominant there. But there's a lot more to the racing world than F1, and Verstappen doesn't have the “all-around” talent to claim that. There's no way Verstappen could replicate the success Larsson has had in different types of vehicles. Larsson is arguably the best driver in NASCAR, sprint cars, and midget cars at the same time. He's won endurance sports car races (Daytona 24 Hours) and the top dirt late model races.
He qualified on the second row for the Indianapolis 500 and led laps in his debut in that type of car. Sorry F1 fans, but Verstappen never got close to the top 10 on a NASCAR intermediate oval or made it to the A-Main in a dirt race. This is not an insult to Verstappen, it's just the reality of how hard it is to transition between different disciplines. Larson may not be able to beat Verstappen in F1, but overall he is more versatile than anyone on the planet.
Bianchi: Larson is the one to choose because he has a more complete track record. He has actually won in a variety of cars of very different types. Of course, if Verstappen were to follow a schedule as ambitious as Larson, he would probably succeed. But Larson has actually done this. And he has done it by winning very frequently. It is not hypothetical whether Larson could win in NASCAR's premier series, whether he could win in a sprint car or a midget car or a sports car. He even led laps in his first Indy 500. This long track record of visible success should mean something, but the same cannot be said for Verstappen. Verstappen has also raced significantly fewer times than Larson.
Larson has had success in multiple races, including this year's Indy 500. (Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
How have people from your respective racing communities responded to this debate?
Smith: As for F1, it didn't get much attention because everyone was on summer break, but it didn't create much of a debate. I asked Fernando Alonso (who also raced in Indianapolis, Le Mans and the Dakar Rally) what he thought about it and he said he hadn't seen it. Verstappen himself played it off. I don't think the people in F1 are too bothered by it.
Coleman: Luke's right, this was never talked about in F1 circles.
Gluck: A lot of American racing fans said, “Yeah, that's true,” but they didn't expect Europeans to agree. People in the NASCAR world feel slighted and overlooked by the rest of the motorsport world, and they think it's unfair. Former NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick said on the “Happy Hours” podcast this week that even crew members on his son Kieran's Italian karting team mistakenly thought stock cars were bought from car dealerships and modified for racing. They had no idea what NASCAR actually was or what the technology was.
But as Harvick pointed out, Larson could get up to speed fairly quickly with a few days of testing, whereas Verstappen would never be able to jump into a stock car and drive well. Again, this isn't to deny Verstappen's incredible talent, but the way a stock car feels and drives is completely different from an open-wheel car, and other open-wheel racers who have tried to make the transition have struggled time and time again.
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Bianchi: As Jeff pointed out, this has been a hot topic within NASCAR because a lot of NASCAR drivers feel like their skills are undervalued, and now we have an opportunity to legitimately nominate one of our guys as the best driver in the world, and I don't think many in the NASCAR community would pass up this opportunity.
Which other current drivers do you think could be a contender for best “all-around” racer on the planet?
Smith: Alonso's name comes to mind. He won Le Mans twice, one of which included a fantastic night-time stint. He won the Rolex 24 Hours, impressed at Indy and raced the Dakar Rally. He embodies that old school spirit of wanting to be an all-out racer beyond F1. I'd race 52 weekends a year if I could! You'll definitely see him at those events once he's done with F1.
Coleman: Again, I agree with Luke. Alonso's racing record is undisputed among today's drivers. He has a proven track record of being competitive in multiple disciplines.
Fernando Alonso joked that he was a better overall driver than both of them, and he might have a point. (Dean Moutalopoulos/Getty Images)
Gluck: There are two New Zealanders to consider here: Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin. Both were multiple Australian Supercar winners before moving on to other forms of racing. Van Gisbergen made his NASCAR debut at a Chicago Street Course race, which is impressive enough in itself, but McLaughlin is perhaps even more notable for moving to a completely different genre of racing (IndyCars) and winning races there (Supercars and NASCAR Stock Cars are somewhat similar).
Bianchi: Alonso immediately springs to mind when he made quite an impression when he first took on the Indy 500 in 2017. He might have won that race had he not suffered engine problems. However, Alonso is older (43) than Max Verstappen (26) and Larsson (32), so their youth gives him an advantage over the two-time F1 world champion.
But who do you think is the greatest all-rounder in motorsport history?
Smith: For me it's Mario Andretti. He's raced and won everything. F1, IndyCar, stock cars, sports cars, you name it. Being an all-rounder is what makes him special. Jim Clark also comes to mind. His success in F1 and the Indy 500 (and every other race he was involved in). He certainly would have won Le Mans had he not died tragically at age 32.
Coleman: For the record, I would have also picked Mario Andretti initially, but I'll add one more just to make it a bit more interesting: AJ Foyt. He's won the Indy 500 four times (his first), but he's competed in a variety of categories, including midgets, sprints, and stock cars (even NASCAR!). He's the only driver to have won the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Daytona 500, and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Gluck: Mario Andretti won the Formula One World Championship, the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500. That's incredible. He's the GOAT.
Bianchi: This conversation starts with Mario Andretti and ends with Mario Andretti. That's it. There's no one else worthy of serious consideration.
Top photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images, Logan Leary/Getty Images
