It might be unusual to say any driver other than Lewis Hamilton, with four wins from six and a 17-point championship lead, is the standout performer of the season to date, but Max Verstappen has never been ordinary.
Verstappen has made a career of rattling cages and upending the expected order, but perhaps no time since his 17-year-old 2015 debut — a feat so offensive to the establishment that drivers younger than 18 have since been banned from F1 — has the Dutchman so positively impressed with his exploits on track.
I say ‘positively’ deliberately, for it was only 12 months ago he was creating headlines for all the wrong reason. This time last year the wagons were circling the then 20-year-old in his second full season at Red Bull Racing.
Verstappen’s opening six rounds of 2018 were a smash fest. Crashing on his own, crashing with other drivers, crashing during practice, crashing after a safety car restart — you name it, Max hit it, and his sins were all the more egregious for the machinery he had at his disposal, because while he was busy shedding carbon fibre, teammate Daniel Ricciardo had claimed a pole position and two race wins to make himself a temporary championship dark horse.
Verstappen is one to keep an eye on (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
It was enough to warrant intervention by team principal Christian Horner and Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, who, it would not be unfair to say, are among his biggest fans.
But one year on and Verstappen has revolutionised himself.
Whereas his 2018 Monte Carlo weekend was marred by a needless crash during Saturday practice as he attempted to dent Ricciardo’s dominance, writing off his car for qualifying and earning himself a back-of-grid start, in 2019 he was the quintessence of control around a circuit that demands maximum respect.
For 67 tense laps he laid siege to Lewis Hamilton’s lead. Prodding and poking the reigning champion’s defences in an attempt to elicit a mistake, only five times did Verstappen end a lap more than a second behind his prey. It was compelling viewing.
It was an almost flawless drive culminating in an optimistic attempt down Hamilton’s inside into the chicane, and though it was ultimately fruitless, it was regardless well judged.
Verstappen knew Hamilton would be hyper-attentive to his mirrors at the circuit’s most popular overtaking spot given the pair speed differential, which meant both worked to ensure neither crashed. Hamilton opened up his steering to allow Max space, and both emerged unscathed after a brief moment of tyre wall touching.
Lewis Hamilton. (Photo: GEPA pictures/Daniel Goetzhaber)
It was a move borne of patience rather than impetuousness.
Compare this mature drive to, as only one example among many, his painfully botched attempts to win last year’s Chinese Grand Prix, when he needlessly tangled with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel on a circuit substantially less mentally demanding than Monaco, and the development is clear.
“I thought he was really reserved,” Horner said, summing up Verstappen’s Monaco Grand Prix. “The encouraging thing is that the performance is right there — he was pushing, pushing, pushing, he fought like a lion, tried to make the pass on Lewis and it was worth a go.”
Verstappen was unable to add to his victory tally — indeed he didn’t even finish on the podium after the penalty for his bump with Bottas was applied — but it was fitting that perhaps his most mature drive to date came on the anniversary of last year’s disastrous Monaco result, which snapped him out of his destructive funk and returned him to the path of competitiveness.
“The difference is I just listen to myself,” he said, reflecting on his strengthening form after winning last year’s Mexican Grand Prix. “My dad always told me in go-karting back in the day if I was maybe overdriving or something … ‘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.”
Max has become exactly the driver Red Bull Racing needs in its first year without Ricciardo. Having marked 2019 as transitional as the team switches from Renault to Honda power, Verstappen is acting as a steady, reliable bar of potential that will help guide English and Japanese mechanics towards a fruitful union, particularly given Pierre Gasly has thus far struggled to come close to replicating the performances of his younger, albeit more experienced, teammate — and Gasly’s certainly no slouch.
Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas (Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG Petronas)
So while Valtteri Bottas 2.0 might win plaudits this season for taking the championship fight to Lewis Hamilton and while Charles Leclerc is winning fans for putting Sebastian Vettel under pressure, it’s Max Verstappen, unperturbed by the unlikeliness of victory and the impossibility of a championship tilt, who’s building the strongest case to be considered the standout driver of the season.
And with 15 rounds remaining and Verstappen still on the development curve, there’s no telling how much more he can achieve this year alone.
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Roar Rookie
Perhaps I've been a little harsh on Chuck!
Michael Lamonato
Expert
It'd be an interesting race! I think you'd definitely get a top tier forming comprising some of the usual suspects you've mentioned, but I don't think the rest would be that far behind — I think F1's grids in the last few years have been pretty consistently strong with few, if any, drivers who don't really belong on the grid. For the record, I think Leclerc would be in that top tier (and would finish the race!).
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Roar Rookie
Max can be reinvented as many times as Christian Horner likes but it appears no car can beat the Mercedes. If only the drivers were in controlled cars we'd eventually find out who really is the best racing driver n F1. I can't help thinking racers like Max, Seb and to a lesser extend Leclerc would not finish a race. My guess is Kimi would be further up the food chain, Lewis definitely and perhaps Daniel. Although this analysis could be flawed considering the amount of F1 starts I've had.
Michael Lamonato
Expert
Zandvoort will be absolutely nuts once it's packed with Dutch fans. Hopefully the circuit delivers — though I have some serious doubts about that. As for Verstappen, he's really only got Singapore and Mexico, as you said, as potential win locations, unless RBR and Honda can find some extra time, which they keep hinting they will — but then so will Mercedes, so I can't see the RB15 getting too much closer to the front. I think second ahead of Ferrari is likely the maximum. And what a disappointment Ferrari has been indeed! The podium will give the team a bit of a buzz, but everyone at Maranello understands the real picture. Canada might be interesting, though, given it favours engine power.
Michael Lamonato
Expert
Yep, they're both drivers who you know will have a go and both have a great feel for a car on the brakes — I suspect Ricciardo's relative lack of bit this season has been rediscovering the braking limit in his new car, as Azerbaijan suggested. I don't doubt there was some gamesmanship when it came to the radio, but visually his tyres were pretty cooked, especially post-race. I think the Hollywood element Palmer's referring to is Hamilton saying he wouldn't be able to win the race despite the circuit layout heavily stacking the duel in his favour.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Max Verstappen has been great this season through a combination of great drives, great strategies and Ferrari's utter hopelessness (Vettel was practically handed a podium in Monaco on a plate - it was like taking candy from a baby). It was a terrible shame that his Monaco GP was slightly ruined by the five-second time penalty for the unsafe release but he still put on a fine show for us. The Mexican GP is the next guaranteed opportunity that we could see the flying Dutchman on the winner's rostrum again and I hope this does happen. In my opinion, Verstappen's success is the sole reason why F1 is going to Zandvoort for a Dutch GP next year. Whenever Verstappen hosts an exhibition drive at Zandvoort, the stands are packed and there are always fans clad in orange during the European season (remember the orange stand at Austria last year? I think there was something like 20,000 of them there!).
Simoc
Guest
Have to agree here. The two worst drivers to have in your rear vision mirrors are Verstappen and Ricciardo. You absolutely know they are going to hit you up somewhere. That is the pressure Hamilton survived at Monaco. It's worth noting that Hamilton and Ricciardo went onto medium tyres at the same time at Monaco and from then until race end Ricciardo was far quicker up to 1.5secs per lap in clear air which Hamilton had. So Hamiltons talk on the radio was described by ex F1 (Renault) driver, Jonathon Palmer as Hollywood B/S. He talks himself up but he knew he had plenty in reserve always.