Red Bull Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey believes that Max Verstappen is the “perfect” Formula 1 driver.
The reigning champion has established himself as one of the fastest F1 drivers of all time, having formed an indomitable partnership with Red Bull.
With Verstappen well on his way to a third consecutive world title, the designer of his Red Bull RB19 Adrian Newey is clearly an admirer of the Dutchman.
When asked by Sky Italy if Verstappen is the perfect driver, Newey replied: “I think he is. He’s got tremendous car control and natural ability.
“He came in, maybe made some mistakes early on because he was pushing so hard, but now he’s really smooth and drives absolutely to the limit of the car, but within that he’s very thoughtful.
“He has a very good feeling from the tyres, we have seen that in several races over the last two years. He really has a good feel with how to use the tyres. With the tyre behaviour, that’s such an important factor now.”
Newey is considered to be one of the F1’s greatest technical minds and has been responsible for 13 championship-winning cars.
Alongside Verstappen, Newey has been the mind behind the cars of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and Sebastian Vettel.
“Those drivers are all so different to each other,” Newey explained.
“Nigel had huge self-confidence, a lot of upper-body strength, which in those days with no power steering and lots of downforce, was important. A fierce competitor out on track.
“Alain much more methodical, very articulate and testing was very frustrating because often he wouldn’t push himself. So you never quite knew where you were. But when he wanted to, he could turn it on.
“Mika and Kimi were very different. They didn’t say very much but what they did say, you had to take a lot of notice of and interpret what they were saying because they had different ways of putting things.
“Sebastian was a big thinker, long debriefs and spent a huge amount of time going through everything. Max is more in the middle. So very different characters but all phenomenal in their own right.”
