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If offered the choice, Flavio Briatore would pick Max Verstappen over Charles Leclerc to drive his car if he were running a team today.

But he was quick to add that if the funds were available, he would partner both drivers, given their respective talent – but opted for the Red Bull driver above all others, believing he is the cream of the current crop in the sport.

“I would buy Verstappen. He is the best driver in Formula 1 and we saw that already last year,” Briatore told Rai Radio in Italy, when asked who he would choose between the Dutchman and Leclerc.

“He has more experience this year. He fought for the World title and already won. But if I had the money, I would have bought both.”

The new regulations have brought about a shake-up of the competitive order in Formula 1, and if the first two races are anything to go by, the sport has achieved its aim of creating cars that produce more competitive racing in close combat, with drivers able to follow each other more closely.

Adding that to the sport’s ever-growing popularity over in America, Briatore thinks the 2022-spec F1 is a spectacle that is of benefit to the sport and its fans.

“This Formula 1 is totally different and I think it’s good for everybody,” said the former Renault team boss. “America is reinventing F1, for