Experience meets raw speed: how Red Bull polished ‘diamond in the rough’ Verstappen

Max Verstappen’s success in 2023 saw him deliver the most dominant season by a driver in Formula 1 history.

Sometimes races seemed like a done deal before they even started. The hopes raised by a close qualifying would soon fade as Verstappen found his rhythm in the race.

Not only did he beat his previous record of 15 wins in a season from 2022, he also destroyed it with 19 wins in 22 races – and more than 1,000 laps lead.

“If you look back at the season he’s had, especially considering the different challenges at the different locations, circuits and conditions, he’s just been phenomenal this year,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

A combination of factors made Verstappen’s season possible, whether it was Red Bull producing such a strong car in the RB19, the struggles of teammate Sergio Pérez and the lack of sustained threat from rival teams.

But 2023 also marked a new step in Verstappen’s evolution. His raw speed and “extremely rare, natural talent”, to quote his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, were matched by a growing experience that made him almost impossible to beat in 2023.

It was something Horner quickly noticed after Verstappen took his third title in the sprint race in Qatar with six Grands Prix to spare. “He’s always had the speed from the moment he got in the car,” Horner said. But speed alone does not make a champion.

“He came into Formula 1 as quite a diamond in the rough. He is now a highly polished diamond. He has retained all those raw qualities he had, but now brings experience to it.”

That ‘diamond in the rough’ ended up in F1 after just one year in single-seater racing. Verstappen soon moved from karting to Formula Three, where his performances quickly caught the attention of all the leading F1 teams. Only Red Bull was willing to take him straight to F1 in 2015, starting with sister team Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri). At the age of 17, Verstappen became the youngest driver ever in F1.

Four races into Verstappen’s second season, Red Bull had seen enough: Daniil Kvyat’s problems led it to promote Verstappen to the senior team and send Kvyat in the direction of the opposition. It was considered a huge step forward for the young Dutchman, only to win on his Red Bull debut in Spain.

“This diamond in the rough showed up and won his first race. He hasn’t polished much, has he?’ Paul Monaghan, Red Bull’s chief engineer, explained The Athletics. “It wasn’t bad from the start.

“What I saw in Max when he first arrived was a very driven, determined young man with an enormous amount of self-confidence. Sometimes people may experience that as arrogance, but it is not. It’s self-confidence and self-belief. And my goodness, he has the talent to back that up.”

That trust turns into an expectation of nothing but the best – both from the team around him and from himself.

“He leaves nothing on the table, he wants everything,” Horner said in Qatar. “That drives and motivates the team internally. He is ruthless in his pursuit of achievement, and he doesn’t just want to win. He wants to dominate.”

From winner to champion

There was a time when the idea of ​​Verstappen winning so many races in a season seemed far-fetched. Before 2021, wins were a rarity and not the norm. Mercedes and Ferrari’s lead over Red Bull meant there were few opportunities for Verstappen to challenge for top spot, meaning he managed just 10 wins between 2016 and the end of 2020 – as many as he won in a row between May and September this year .

It was all part of the learning curve. Verstappen’s fierce battle for the 2021 title with Lewis Hamilton boiled over repeatedly, but was ultimately settled in controversial fashion on the final lap of the final race of the season. The intensity of that championship undoubtedly played a role in Verstappen’s growth.

His father, Jos Verstappen, was there every step of the journey. He agreed that the “experience makes him better,” and while he hadn’t seen any major change in his son, he doubted such a dominant year would have been possible a few years ago.

“It is the same Max as three, four years ago,” said Jos in Qatar. “The only difference is that he has a fantastic car around him. He knows the people he works with, and I think that makes it seem easy.

“But you still have to be there every weekend and the details make the difference. As for me, if he had this car four years ago, I wouldn’t say he would win another 10 races (in a row). But it was certainly very close to what we’ve seen now.

On his Red Bull debut in 2016, Verstappen achieved his first F1 victory. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Verstappen’s confidence behind the wheel extends to all his interactions with the Red Bull team. As well as what Monaghan described as ‘the occasional verbal volley’ on the radio – hardly a sign of tension, more of the strength of the relationship – there was also a different level of confidence and calm this year.

“Listen to his radio messages: ‘What’s the gap, what’s this, what’s that, what are the gear changes?’” Monaghan said. “It’s all as fast as anyone on the track, and it’s just easy. That’s what I see in him. He seems more relaxed to me from the car.”

Underneath it all is the unwavering, relentless desire to win. Even during the last six races of the season, when he could have given up after clinching the championship, Verstappen did not miss a second. As he put it after the season finale in Abu Dhabi: “Winning is great. Why wouldn’t I want to win?”

Verstappen’s evolution into such a dominant driver has put him in the same conversation as the all-time greats, even at the tender age of 26. In the last two seasons, Verstappen has gone from 20 wins to 54, and he has gone from tied for first place to 54 wins. 17th on the all-time wins list to third, with only Michael Schumacher (91) and Hamilton (103) ahead of him. At this rate, both are within his reach before his Red Bull contract expires at the end of 2028.

“He appreciates the history of the sport and respects the records that are there,” Horner said.

“A large percentage of his race wins have come in the last two to three years. It really depends on us whether we can also provide him with the tools. These are enormous numbers. (To) Lewis, he’s only halfway there in some ways.

“But he still has many races ahead of him.”

(Main photo of Max Verstappen in 2023: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)