2019: New team mates, new engines, new challenges
Season: 21 races, 3 wins, 2 poles, 3 fastest laps, 9 podiums
Drivers championship: 3rd place, 278 points
Verstappen might now be top dog at Red Bull, but the management had a big headache: which puppy to put alongside him? Horner and Marko initially promoted Pierre Gasly from the junior Toro Rosso squad, the same way that Verstappen had made his way into F1 four years previously. However, they quickly grew disillusioned with the Frenchman's inconsistent performance and swapped him with Alexander Albon over the summer.
The team had also decided to end its long and productive partnership with engine suppliers Renault in favour of Honda - a big risk given the Japanese manufacturer's misbegotten team-up with McLaren, but it was the only way Red Bull could see to break the recent malaise into which they had fallen. Despite some doubts, Verstappen committed himself to the new partnership and hoped it would set him on the road to a maiden title of his own, and he was soon rewarded by his first real sustained spell of power and reliability to date.
Top five in the first 12 races of 2019 including wins in Austria and Germany, there was also his first ever pole position when he topped qualifying in Hungary, soon followed by another in Brazil. With just two retirements all season, Verstappen had finally established himself as 'best of the rest' behind the pair of unassailable Mercedes drivers. But it was proving to be very much a one-man show at Red Bull, and the team remained a long way out of reach both Mercedes and Ferrari in the constructors standings.
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