Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has sung Max Verstappen’s praises, calling him the “most talented driver” to race for Red Bull over their 17-year span in Formula 1.
Horner has led the team from the pit wall to six Drivers’ Championships and four Constructors’ Championships, with the potential of clinching a fifth at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Four of those championships came from Sebastian Vettel with a string of other grand prix winners such as David Coulthard, Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber and Pierre Gasly previously taking the driver’s seat at Red Bull.
However, Horner points to Verstappen’s Red Bull debut victory at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix as one of the more special moments for the team: “I’ve never seen anything like it, what we witnessed that day was something special.
“The great thing is he is just open to pushing himself in all areas, he always feels there’s more to be had.
“He is quite clearly the most talented driver that I think we have had in one of our cars.”
Verstappen was just 18 years old at the time of taking his first chequered flag in Barcelona but Horner also referenced another moment from the year before which took him by surprise.
In his debut season in F1 with Toro Rosso, a 17-year-old Verstappen showed incredible commitment to go side-by-side with Felipe Nasr around the high-speed Blanchimont corner at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix.
“What stood out was Spa, when he drove round the outside of Felipe Nasr.
“I thought: ‘This boy is properly brave, committed and quick.’ You saw it that season, he was a shining star. It was evident immediately he was a prodigious talent.”
While the young Verstappen had incredible raw pace, his lack of maturity was clear in some of the incidents that plagued the early stages of his career.
One moment that Horner remembers, in particular, was his shunt in FP3 of the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. The heavy crash ruled him out of qualifying which ultimately ruined his race for the following day.
“I was open with him. I told him: ‘You are more than quick enough, you don’t have to win every battle in the first corner. Take your time.’
“He went away, had a think about things and the driver that turned up at the next round in Montreal, well, he was like a metronome.”
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