Max Verstappen

It's somewhat reminiscent of Bennetton's approach with Schumacher. They didn't really back Verstappen in the same way.
Meanwhile Verstappen Jnr's driving style reminds me more of Michael than Jos

 

But he is right in saying part of the problem is that both he and Vettel (after Germany) try to drive more than 100% to achieve the results...Lewis tried this once in the qualy in Germany when the Ferrari was the faster car and he ruined it as well....

 

I think Max now learned he cannot go over the limit 6 times and be competitive, yet this week say he has not changed.....really Max???? LOL

 

just reading back what i've wrote in June

My cristal ball was clearly pretty good.
Ferrari did fail in the second half
Vettel did collapse again
MB however did better than i expected
Max DID grow up and is with a red bull only slightly below both Bottas and Raikonen in the current standings. (and 70 points clear of Rici)

If Honda and Redbull deliver next year we might see a stop to the MB era.
And as a ferrari owner i do like to see Ferrari win but not before they sign Max.

 

Max is doing better. He does not apear to want to admit change but in essence to me, does below. Ricci car issues are quite a large part of the difference in points for this year it would appear.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/139750/verstappen-says-he-was-overdriving-in-early-18

--Max Verstappen has admitted he was guilty of overdriving earlier this season and believes backing off has made him a faster Formula 1 driver.

The Mexican Grand Prix winner was involved in a succession of incidents at the start of the year, culminating in crashing out of practice and missing qualifying in Monaco, where Red Bull was dominant.

He reacted badly to suggestions he needed to change his approach but has won twice and scored six more podiums in the 13 races since.

"The difference is I just listen to myself," he said after Sunday's win. "I do my own thing, even if there are a lot of things written, I really don't care.

"My dad always told me in go-karting, back in the day, if I was maybe overdriving or something, he would always tell me, 'Max, even if you think you are not going fast enough, it's still fast enough'.

"So basically, for my feeling, I just backed it out a little bit and that seems to make me a bit faster."

Verstappen always insisted he did not need to change his driving but has been credited by his team for blending his speed with calm driving and better decision making.

He even admitted ahead of the Mexican GP that he had spoken to his father Jos earlier this season about how to deal with those "difficult moments".

"I think in the beginning of the season I was always overdriving maybe a little bit," he said in an interview for F1's official YouTube channel.

"I wanted a result too much. So, I just basically slowed down a bit, which made me faster."

Verstappen's miserable start to the season has morphed into his most successful F1 campaign.

The 21-year-old has two wins and nine podiums, matching his victory tally from last year but with five extra rostrums and two races remaining.

He has also eclipsed his best-ever points tally, from 2016, and is only 11 points behind fourth-placed Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas in the championship.

Asked by Autosport how impressive it is that Verstappen has reined himself but still produced such strong performances, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: "It's all part of his growth with experience.

"He went through a tough part at the beginning of the year but really since Montreal he's driven some incredible races.

"That [experience] was the only missing piece.

"All drivers make mistakes, you see that up and down the paddock. It's what you learn from them [that counts]."

 

While I would agree that the question of experience and Max learning to "pick his spots" in a race is a key part of his development, part of what worries me most about him as a #1 driver was his reaction to qualifying in Mexico. He was fastest through pretty much every session, but when he got pipped at the pole by his teammate, Max immediately hopped out of the car and "kicked the cat" in his interview: basically saying that his car was crap and he would "drive around the problems."

It was an astoundingly out-of-touch comment -- most everyone on the grid wishes their car was so terrible as to consistently be the fastest - and one that doesn't necessarily bode well for him as a #1 driver. Sometimes drivers get beaten, and it isn't always the car/team's fault.

Having said that, Max is hardly alone in that behavior (Lewis and Seb are quick to complain), and the sport's nice guys -- and here I'm thinking of Ricciardo -- don't always get rewarded with cars that will run for an entire race. But I'm not sure that extravagant blame in public will produce any long term benefits, and may even hurt him "down the road" (see Alonso, F).

 

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-ricciardo-celebration-pole-mexico/3205716/amp/

Hmmm. Learn to be happy for your teammate Max.

I wonder if Max was irritated by LH's WDC celebrations in the midst of his own race victory.

 

He has Renault power victories and is quick to complain the moment an issue might appear etc. I hope he is ready for the unknown next year with Honda. Given the amount of PU's the Toro has used and the ongoing issues so far, he might need to learn a bit of patience and grace in case he suffers like Ricci currently.

Max is very much a solo operation at Red Bull much like Vettel was. In a subtle manner it has been Max's team like it was for Vettel with Mark Webber.

 

+1 completely agree

 

Poor quali was a blessing in disguise


Hamilton then challenged Verstappen for the lead on the run-up to Turn 1, but the Dutchman held the inside line and retained the lead, going on to control the race from there.

“In the end it was a good thing he started from second place,” Jos said.

“If you look at Hamilton’s start and how he gets in between the Red Bulls, Max would have been on the outside if he had started on pole.

“It all worked out well.”

 

it sure was!

 

Yep, the Red Bull team may be spitting feathers next year if the Honda engine doesn't deliver to their expectations.
If so, I will be chuckling in my corner.
They have been criticising their French partners from day one since the hybrid formula, forgetting that Renault allowed them to win races and titles for many years.
By what I see, Honda is still behind Renault.

 

Max is a selfish, boorish, cut-throat a__hole. His anger at Ricciardo was unreasonable. What did he want him to do, sit by silently?

That, of course, is why he will be a WDC.

 

That is why he may become a WDC. He needs luck, a car and some harmony in the team to carry him through the difficult times. He will not do well with a faster team mate at all. He has a very serious tendancy to let anger and arrogance over rule the required strategic thinking. He has some work to do for it all to come together.

He can be a WDC. Will he is the major question. He was beaten by others in Jr series. He is not invincible.

 

He will have to grow up a lot, look at the big picture, and think ahead more when racing.
He needs to refrain his bad temper or he will lose the support of his team.
Red Bull should send him on some anger management course, I think.
If not, he will become an unsufferable prima dona.

On a different note, we will see how he get's on with Gasly next year.

 

The car will be key. His frustration this year was evident early on knowing it was another year of Ferrari vs Mercedes. That was probably affecting him and his early mistakes according to some in the paddock/press. If the car with Honda is again less than competitive what will we see?

 

Doesn't he have a performance clause in his contract? If the car doth sucketh, thou can say ****eth.

 

For sure, nobody is invincible. Even Mike Tyson was beaten in his early amateur career.

So much comes down to the PU these days. The Renault has been flaky and down on power.
It will probably also be a challenge with the Honda.

No surprise that neither Ferrari or Mercedes wanted to supply Red Bull !

 

Not really, he missed races during his first and only F3 season due to F1 practice and his car was less reliable than Ocon's, who won the F3 season that year. Max 3rd. So hardly beaten, unless you count an uneven contest.

In karting he won just about anything, ever.

 

All true. However, he certainly has the ruthlessness it takes to dominate in a good car. He believes he has the right to win races (like other WDC's) and gets offended that someone else thinks they are better. It's an unsavory side of personality, but that's where the separation between "fast driver" and "WDC" occurs.

Agree that he is not invincible and the right car/right time factor is always in play.

 

I'll just put this here:

https://jalopnik.com/both-verstappens-are-dicks-1830201279/amp

 

A talented dick then.

 

I still have my doubts about Verstappen being a real WDC challenger one day.

2019 could be a decisive year for Red Bull.

 

I figure if he can tame his aggression a tad, he certainly will be a force to be reckoned with, and given the right car it's odds on he can bag a WDC in my book.

However It's Interesting to eavesdrop the behind scenes radio contact, it certainly reinforces the fact it is a team sport.

 

Nelson Piquet used to say something very similar regarding Nigel Mansell: "a fast idiot" was how he was calling him !