Ecclestone: Nobody wants to be Verstappen's teammate

Never one to shy away from the controversial headline, Bernie Ecclestone has said he believes that nobody wants to become Max Verstappen's teammate. The ex-F1 boss compared the Dutchman to Fernando Alonso in that other teams wouldn't extend an offer for him to join them due to his turbulent influence.

Off the back of Alonso reportedly being snubbed by Red Bull after Christian Horner described the McLaren driver as a chaotic influence at whichever team he joins, Ecclestone echoed those sentiments but applied them to Verstappen instead.

"For him, getting a place in a team would be a bigger job than getting Fernando," Ecclestone told Nico Rosberg on the 'Beyond Victory' podcast.

"I do not think Ferrari would welcome him with open arms, nor Mercedes.

"You would not be too excited if you were number 1 in the team and someone said, 'The guy in the other car will be Verstappen'. Sebastian (Vettel) would not want him, Lewis (Hamilton) would not want him."

Red Bull's faith in Verstappen as the next generational F1 talent has alienated current driver Daniel Ricciardo with the Australian opting to abandon ship and move to Renault where more likely than not will be given number one status over Nico Hulkenberg, an arangment he does not have at Red Bull.

Verstappen's prikley demenour and sometimes arrogant attitude may turn other drivers off of having him as a teammate but nobody ever achieved a world championship by being the nice guy.