Kolkata: ‘Tu-tu-tu-du, Max Verstappen’ goes the opening line of the lyrics of an Anglo-Dutch song by Carte Blanq and Maxx Power titled ‘33 Max Vertsappen’. Meant as a tribute to the generational talent who sealed his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a fifth-place finish yesterday, the song is a catchy rendition that even contains the phrase ‘simply lovely’, often used by the four-time Formula 1 world champion on the team radio after scything through the field to one of his 62 career race wins.
The song was written in 2023 by which time Verstappen had already changed his Red Bull car number from 33 to 1 after winning his first drivers’ title at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His critics — and he has quite a few — still allude to that tumultuous finale, where a quirk of fate — and a pivotal decision by the then race director Michael Masi — handed the title to the prodigiously talented Dutchman as he overtook the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in a one-lap shootout on fresher tyres to claim his first world championship.
The following two years were nothing to write home about with the flying Dutchman in the Adrian Newey-designed RB18 and RB19 simply sweeping away the competition — and truth be told, there was none — to win two more world titles on the canter. This season too seemed like going the same way when the 27-year-old won seven out of the first 10 races. Then came the abrupt change in fortunes as their rivals upgraded their cars leaving the Milton Keynes-based team searching for answers.
But more on that later. Let’s go back a few years to see what made Verstappen arguably the fastest-ever driver Formula 1 has seen, as the critics keep upgrading their comparison to the sport’s legendary drivers, which currently has only two names that are spoken of in the same breath as Verstappen — Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
5: Juan Manuel Fangio
4: Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen
Back in the year 2016, an 18-year-old rookie had replaced Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull seat for the Spanish Grand Prix. It was a race that first showed the world the remarkable talent of Verstappen. After overtaking his senior teammate Daniel Ricciardo in the first lap, he saw the dominant Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg take each other out up front, as he went past them to become the youngest driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
If that display of speed and race craft made the world sit up and take notice, the F1 connoisseurs and fans had to rub their eyes in disbelief at what they saw at the Brazilian Grand Prix a few months down the line after the Dutchman had qualified fourth.
In a rain-affected race, he almost hit the barrier after he slid on the main straight due to a loss of traction, causing oversteer, and somehow managed to keep the car on the slippery track. After an additional tyre change from intermediates back to rain tyres, he ran in 16th place with just 15 laps remaining. The youngster then made several audacious overtakes in quick succession during the closing laps to eventually finish on the podium in third place. He received considerable praise for his performance with rival team Mercedes’ team principal, Toto Wolff, labelling it “The Verstappen Show”, and describing his drive as “physics ... being redefined”.
Fast forward 10 years to the Brazilian Grand Prix earlier this month, and the same “Verstappen Show” played out on the slippery circuit after heavy rain made the track extremely perilous to drive. After going 10 races without a win and seeing his championship rival McLaren’s Lando Norris whittle away his lead to within touching distance, Verstappen found himself with his back to the wall after an untimely red flag in Q2 and an engine penalty left him 17th on the starting grid.
Absolute masterclass
What unfolded thereafter was an absolute masterclass, as he went through the field, never once sliding or losing grip and used his mastery on wet conditions with late braking and overtaking off the racing line, even when others were going off track at virtually every turn. It was the race that eventually proved decisive in the title race and really showed the world the stuff he is made of.
Legend has it that his dad Jos, a former F1 driver himself, left his son at a petrol station as punishment in 2012 after the latter crashed out during a major karting championship. Legend also has it that the same Jos had his son driving a kart in pelting rain until his fingers became numb when everyone else had gone indoors. While his methods are up for debate, it definitely reinforced the steel in the junior Verstappen.
“I am not here to finish second”, the 4-time world champion had once famously said. His aggressive, no-holds-barred driving style has its share of critics, but no one can deny the greatness of the Red Bull driver who has been breaking records for fun and proving time and again that the comparisons to all-time greats like Senna and Schumacher are definitely not misplaced. His Red Bull contract runs till 2028 and while the Dutchman has said that he has no interest in going past Schumacher and Hamilton’s seven titles to prove his greatness, chances are he wouldn’t need to in order to be spoken of as a legend of the sport.
