I've always found the Verstappen hate kind of odd. There's nothing really hateable about him, especially once he reigned in his more extreme driving tendencies, starting around 2020 or so. In 2016 there were grounds to hate Max Verstappen. By 2023 those were entirely gone, but people did it anyway.
He still doesn't like close competition very much, and will revert back to his more extreme driving tendencies when confronted with a real challenge. In this way, he reminds me of a team we would call a 'playoff choker' in a North American stick and ball sport, but in racing, where you can pull such a wide gap that you never find yourself under real pressure at any point, I don't think Max's tendency to crack when faced with real competition (much like Michael Schumacher's tendency to crack when faced with real competition) really matters, although I'm still sure at some point he's going to cause an airplane crash when involved in a close fight with somebody sometime, something that would either boost or tank his popularity forever, depending on who he gets into the crash with.
In sum, I like Max Verstappen. That doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to see other drivers win some of the time, but he was never going to kill the sport or do anything that any of the more extreme folk were saying he would. He does have a tendency to get into silly crashes sometimes, but other than that, I find him to be quite a likeable personality, and if he cares to stay around long enough to obliterate all the records, I don't think they could've gone to a more deserving guy.
I've always found the Verstappen hate kind of odd. There's nothing really hateable about him, especially once he reigned in his more extreme driving tendencies, starting around 2020 or so. In 2016 there were grounds to hate Max Verstappen. By 2023 those were entirely gone, but people did it anyway.
He still doesn't like close competition very much, and will revert back to his more extreme driving tendencies when confronted with a real challenge. In this way, he reminds me of a team we would call a 'playoff choker' in a North American stick and ball sport, but in racing, where you can pull such a wide gap that you never find yourself under real pressure at any point, I don't think Max's tendency to crack when faced with real competition (much like Michael Schumacher's tendency to crack when faced with real competition) really matters, although I'm still sure at some point he's going to cause an airplane crash when involved in a close fight with somebody sometime, something that would either boost or tank his popularity forever, depending on who he gets into the crash with.
In sum, I like Max Verstappen. That doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to see other drivers win some of the time, but he was never going to kill the sport or do anything that any of the more extreme folk were saying he would. He does have a tendency to get into silly crashes sometimes, but other than that, I find him to be quite a likeable personality, and if he cares to stay around long enough to obliterate all the records, I don't think they could've gone to a more deserving guy.