Max Verstappen: the “Mad Max” who is coming of age

It's not easy to go toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton but Max Verstappen has managed to do that this season.

PREMIUM

At the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, Red Bull’s Verstappen led for over 75% of the race before Hamilton—in his superior Mercedes—overtook him to win.

With just three races to go, Verstappen has a 14-point lead over Hamilton—332.5 and 318.5. That's how close this season has been. Every time it looked like Hamilton, 36, would rein him in, Verstappen did just enough to stay ahead.

While Hamilton said the win in Sao Paulo was the best of his career, Verstappen called it “damage limitation” which has helped stay in front. “It’s been like this the whole year, hasn’t it," said Verstappen, 24, of the widening and narrowing lead between the two contenders.

This has been termed as Verstappen’s “Coming of Age” season. Red Bull has given him a car to compete with Hamilton but he has also shown the attitude of a champion in the making. The Dutch driver has managed to keep emotions in check, made very few errors and has weathered whatever Mercedes have thrown at him—from on track tactics to verbal volleys off it.

ALSO READ: Revisiting the legend of Michael Schumacher

When Hamilton won three of the season’s first three races, it looked like he would coast to a record eighth title and fifth in a row. But Verstappen won four of the next five to take the lead. It could have been five in five had he not suffered a puncture at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Through it all there were moments where it looked like Verstappen 2.0 would be replaced by ‘Mad Max’—the moniker he earned in his earlier days in Formula One for aggressive driving style and the inability to keep emotions in check. But Verstappen has stayed focused on the job at hand.

“I think Max has shown great maturity this year. Of course, you’re always evolving, always learning. That’s the journey of life, you learn from every experience and when you see the progression from a 17-year-old, when he came into Formula 1, to the driver he is today, it’s pretty impressive,” Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, has said. Horner has endured many frustrating races since Verstappen was promoted in 2016. But this season the driver has given him no reason to complain.

Not that it’s been a smooth ride. At the British Grand Prix, Verstappen and Hamilton touched wheels at Copse—one of the fastest corners on the Formula One calendar. Verstappen crashed into barriers and the force, which was recorded at 51Gs, sent him to hospital for precautionary checks. Hamilton raced to victory; Mercedes celebrating as if they had won the championship.

In the next race at Hungary, Verstappen finished ninth after being hit on the opening lap as a result of contact between Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris.

“Least mistakes”

While Hamilton headed into to summer break with an eight-point lead, Verstappen was left fuming and it looked like he would lose focus. After the break, he won races in Belgium and Holland. But for the crash in Monza—Verstappen landed on top of Hamilton’s car and had it not been for the Halo, a barrier that protects the cockpit, the consequences could have severe—which triggered a lot of criticism because Verstappen walked away without inquiring about Hamilton, he has hardly put a foot wrong.

Teammate Sergio Perez put Verstappen’s season into context: “He is really delivering at a very high level. Max has been the driver of the season so far. He has done the least mistakes of anyone out there, putting things together at a very high level.”

Verstappen has also admitted that he is calmer now. “From the age of 17 to 23, things change. That’s very normal. I used to shout around. Nowadays I’m much more relaxed,” he has said.

The last five races have seen him drive like a man possessed, winning two and finishing second in three. He claimed second spot in Russia from the back of the grid, kept Hamilton at bay to win the US Grand Prix and landed a double overtake move on Mercedes on the first corner at Mexico to take that race with ease.

Verstappen’s pre-race preparation this season has drawn comparisons with Michael Schumacher. “It reminds me of how Michael Schumacher used to spend a long time walking a track on the Thursday before a race weekend. He would look at corners and check out the escape routes if things go wrong. He would then know if you can escape safely from a bold move and be more confident of making that move. Max sussed out the first corner very well in Mexico and had the confidence to pull it off,” wrote Ross Brawn, who was the technical director during Schumacher’s successful run with Ferrari and is now the managing director of F1.

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso said: “He (Verstappen) seems to deal with the pressure better than other people. Every one of us is different, but it seems that for him, it's not a big deal. Every weekend, he takes it race-by-race. I think that's the right approach for these remaining races.”

The punt that Red Bull took to see a potential champion in the 18-year-old has never been closer to fruition than this season. Now it’s up to Verstappen to finish the job in the final stretch.

Experience unrestricted digital access with HT Premium

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.