Max Verstappen’s form since a patchy opening to the 2018 season proves he is ready to compete for the Formula 1 title, according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
A series of incidents and setbacks scuppered Verstappen’s prospects through the first six Grands Prix, colliding with Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in successive races.
The nadir came in Monaco where he squandered Red Bull’s dominance by crashing out in practice, leaving him unable to participate in qualifying.
Verstappen has since been outscored by only World Champion Hamilton and runner-up Vettel, during which phase he has taken eight podiums, of which two were wins, including last weekend in Mexico.
“I think absolutely,” said Horner on whether Verstappen was prepared for a title fight.
“You’ve seen this weekend [in Mexico] if we’ve had an engine that is anywhere near the ballpark of our opponents, then we’ve got a strong enough team and strong enough driver package to take the fight to them [Mercedes and Ferrari].
“We’re obviously hopeful that the Honda, with the progress they’re making, will put us into a situation where we’re more regularly able to compete.
“We are here with the optimum downforce on the car, the optimum setting on the car.
“[Verstappen] went through a tough path at the beginning of the year.
“But really, since Montreal, he’s been doing some incredible races and I think with experience that was really the only missing piece.
“All drivers make mistakes, you see that up and down the paddock. It’s what you learn from them.”
Expanding further on Verstappen, Horner said: “He has an awful load of capacity in the car. I think he’s got a very good racing brain as well.
“So he’s wanting to understand what’s going on in the rest of the race to match his pace accordingly.”
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