"I was part psychopath" - Tom Brady gets 100% real on his football mindset with F1 racer Carlos Sainz

Tom Brady is considered the greatest quarterback, if not overall player, in NFL history - and with good reason. He won seven Super Bowls, more than any single franchise, throughout his career, among other accolades. And his competitiveness on the field was described as nothing short of legendary.

In a video posted on his YouTube channel on Friday during the Formula One Miami Grand Prix weekend, he discussed his mentality on the gridiron with Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jr. He said, as they hit golf balls into the bay (from 04:25):

“I think I was part psychopath. I treated every day like it was the biggest day, like it was a Super Bowl. I treated practice like it was Super Bowl, and I think there was never a moment that my teammates didn't feel like it was the biggest day, even if it was relatively unimportant. So I'd say my competitiveness on a daily basis to win was max effort all the time.”

He continued:

"Everyone in my team felt like when I walked in, 'I better sit up straight and pay attention' (because if not), then they were out. Not out like cut, but look, they weren't gonna be a part of what we were doing, and all the guys that were competitive like me, they were perfect."

He also recalled finding his inner leader, or "competitive stamina", as he put it, as a rookie:

"You're either competing or you're not. And to me, the competition was every day... So I would treat a qualifying day like it was a race. And I would push everyone to treat it (that way), because that's how I wanted to see whether people were gonna do it or not."

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Tom Brady discusses idolizing Michael Jordan

Arguably, one factor in why Tom Brady was very competitive in his career was that early on, he grew up idolizing the Chicago Bulls superstar. In that same conversation, he said: (Start at 5:49)

"He was so competitive and I always find like, if I push my teammates to succeed, well, they got better. And if they got better, it forced me to get better. And then the better I got, then I pushed them, then they got better. So it was almost like you volleyed the competitiveness back to one another."

With his seven Super Bowl titles, Tom Brady wound up winning more rings than his childhood idol, who finished with six NBA titles.