F1 News, Reports and Race Results

'Mature' Verstappen 'has driven almost flawlessly' - Marko

Red Bull motorsports consultant Dr Helmut Marko believes that Max Verstappen has matured and become his own man behind the weel remarkably quickly.

Up to now, much has been made of the way that Verstappen's skills and temperament in the cockpit have been shaped by the lessons he learned from his father Jos, himself a successful F1 driver between 1994 and 2003.

But Marko says that the 24 year old has already moved on and progressed from those early lessons and that the newly crowned world champion has changed and improved on his way to clinching the title.

“Max has clearly matured," Marko told Austrian magazine Autorevue in a recent interview. “This process of maturity wasn't always so visible from the outside, but it has reached the highest level very quickly.

“You have to remember he's still only 24," he added, commenting that it was only natural that it had taken some time for Max to 'wean' himself off his upbringing.

"He was super-trained and shaped by his father," Marko acknowledged. "The relationship is still very close, but Max has his own opinion today."

In his earlier days, Max was noted for his hot-headedness and his tendency to see 'red mist' when things didn't go his way. That's no longer the case, explained Marko.

“Verstappen has driven almost flawlessly, has improved in all areas and is no longer impetuous,” said Marko. “In the past, he would have liked to do everything on the first lap.

"If something didn’t go right in preparation, he would always explode. Today he stays calm. We had a few technical problems, but now he just sees the whole picture.

Last year the most frequent complaint about Verstappen's driving was they he was too ruthless and unwilling to back down even in potentially dangerous confrontations with his main title rival Lewis Hamilton.

But Marko insisted that it showed his young protege was no different from other greats of the sport such as Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

“There’s nothing there but ‘I want to win, and I’ll do everything for it’," Marko said of such exceptional racing talents. "They grow beyond normally non-existent possibilities.”

But sometimes this do-or-die attitude can backfire, as happened in qualifying in Saudi Arabia where Verstappen crashed on the final lap by pushing over the edge.

"Until then he was sensationally fast," said of the mistake which had looked like potentially costing Verstappen the title. "He was driving the car so over the limit, it was even visually visible.”

Marko's thoughts on Verstappen's development are broadly shared by the driver's father.

"With all the years we’ve spent together, it’s in him now, he knows how to do it," Jos told the media in December.

“When I look at him, he’s so much more mature than I was at his age," he admitted. "What more could I teach him? I don’t think I have anything to teach him now.

"I really stay back, he added. "I’m talking to Max’s engineer because I really like the Grands Prix, but it’s very brief. I’m happy that I’m not more involved, and I don’t want to be."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

McLaren: Team orders always ‘make life difficult for ourselves’

McLaren's successful 1-2 finish in the Brazilian Sprint race came with a dose of complexity,…

46 mins ago

Verstappen demoted to P4 following VSC infringement in Sprint

Max Verstappen has been demoted from third to fourth in the final standings of Saturday’s…

1 hour ago

Norris thanks Piastri for handing Sprint win, but not ‘proud’

Lando Norris secured victory in Saturday’s Sprint event in Sao Paulo thanks to a McLaren…

3 hours ago

São Paulo GP: Norris handed sprint win by Piastri

McLaren clinched a valuable 1-2 sweep of the São Paulo sprint race, with polesitter Oscar…

4 hours ago

2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Sprint Race results

Full results from the Sprint race for the São Paulo Grand Prix at São Paulo,…

4 hours ago

Aston’s Alonso and Stroll to start Sao Paulo Sprint from pitlane

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start Saturday's sprint race at Interlagos from the pitlane…

5 hours ago