While Marko felt Verstappen would mark the start of a “new norm”, even if the grid generally is getting younger, no other driver yet has come into Formula 1 so young and made such an impact. “The mistakes he made in the beginning, like the crashes in Monte Carlo at the same place and that other highlight in Austin where he made a self-inflicted pit-stop, are out.” Max Verstappen remains an anomaly, rather than the norm Otherwise he might have been champion then. I think it’s because of those miraculously fast engines from Ferrari in 2019 and then Mercedes stepped up, leaving us with Honda behind again. “Unfortunately, we have not managed to become the youngest World Champion. He knows in qualifying and the race you have to be fast. “So the impatience to go to the limit every lap has gone. He lives his own life and has become calmer after his first world title. “Max is now 24 and one of the best-earning sportsmen in the Netherlands, but that hasn’t changed him one bit. Max had two technical briefings, first with the team and then with Jos…it was clear that could not continue. In the beginning this was not always an easy process. “But this developed in parallel – the more independent Max became, the more Jos withdrew. “I mean, he was still a child and you still had the superiority of Jos at that time. It was clear he had to grow as a personality,” said Marko. “At 16 he signed his first Formula 1 contract. Verstappen has come a long way from those days as a 16-year-old first signing with Red Bull, when he would have “two technical briefings – first with the team and then with Jos “, his father – to now a World Champion whom Marko says has eliminated past impatience. Fortunately, he learned from it and finally managed to do it last year.” When you have such a good car, you shouldn’t park it in the ditch. “That was the first time I saw Max in tears. Same corner, same place, while twice we had a car we could win with. “If we stay with Monte Carlo, he crashed there twice more later. “In Monte Carlo he had his first crash, he was a bit provoked there by Grosjean,” said Marko. Marko explained how Verstappen was reduced to tears as he put a car, possibly capable of winning, into the barriers, but said the main thing is he learned from the errors to become World Champion for the first time in 2021 after winning in Monaco. In 2018, an FP3 shunt ruled Verstappen out of qualifying and he ultimately finished the race P9.
He had crashed out of qualifying the previous day also. Verstappen also crashed out in Monaco the following season, this time driving for the main Red Bull team. Marko reflected on Verstappen’s first crash, which happened that season in Monaco – a heavy impact into the back of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus. “But everything went fine, Max was extraordinary in the first season.” “But you can’t demand everything right away,” Marko stated. Verstappen made the step up to Formula 1 as a full-time driver in 2015 with Toro Rosso, where he quickly showed his raw speed although some mistakes inevitably also crept in. “And at Suzuka we got confirmation of what I already knew – Max didn’t do anything wrong in that practice and was competitive from the first moment he stepped into a Formula 1 car.” But I believed that with him we had found someone who would become the new norm. “Suzuka was designed by a Dutchman, so a circuit for guys. “We made a conscious decision to throw Max into the deep end,” Marko told Formule 1.nl. Red Bull return from the summer break as hot favourites in both World Championship battles.Īnd indeed, his performance in that session, which he ended four tenths down on team-mate Daniil Kvyat, was vindication in Marko’s eyes for that decision to put Verstappen straight into the firing line. Will Red Bull maintain their title momentum?
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