Having become the Netherlands' first world champion aged just 24, the expectations for the next generation’s leading light are sky high – but with Verstappen there’s a feeling that the sky’s the limit.īAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - MARCH 17: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on in the Paddock during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on Main Bahrain, Bahrain. Despite moving out of Dad’s house to live in Monaco, Verstappen remains close to his family, and though he’s not afraid to speak his mind, he can still be surprisingly shy. The son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen and super-quick karting Mum Sophie Kumpen, racing runs through his genes. And he followed that up with a powerhouse title defence in 2022, winning a record 15 races across the season. They culminated in his first F1 drivers’ crown after that already legendary, final-round showdown with Lewis Hamilton in 2021. But the mistakes that initially marred his potential have given way to maturity, while the bravado and energy that make him a blockbuster talent have remained – and the victories have kept on coming. Verstappen’s no-holds-barred attitude and hard defending have sometimes landed him in hot water with his peers and paymasters. A true wheel-to-wheel racer, another stunning drive in Brazil from the back of the pack to the podium on a treacherous wet track kept the plaudits coming. The baby-faced Dutchman with the heart of a lion took the Toro Rosso – and then the Red Bull – by the horns with his instinctive racing style.į1’s youngest points scorer soon became its youngest race winner – at the age of 18 years and 228 days – with an opportunistic but controlled drive on debut for Red Bull in Barcelona 2016. But I think that we made good progress through 2020 and we'll see whether RB16B has its challenges from the regulation changes, but that's obviously the same for all teams.Arriving as Formula 1’s youngest ever competitor at just 17 years old, Verstappen pushed his car, his rivals and the sport’s record books to the limit. "I wouldn't say the were exclusive to aero," he said about the difficulties of last year. Eight things Red Bull must do to beat Mercedes in 2021.Red Bull hopes its banished correlation issue on 2021 F1 car.Horner said that Red Bull was well aware of where it needed to improve, and that progress on both the chassis and engine front would prove beneficial. Red Bull's hopes of being able to fight harder against Mercedes will also rest on the work that engine supplier Honda has done with its new F1 engine, ahead of the Japanese manufacturer's last season in the sport. It has targeted making the RB16B more consistent across different types of tracks. The team hopes, however, that the lessons it learned from last season, when drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon struggled at times with a tricky balance, have been taken on board and it can prove to be stronger against Mercedes. The RB16B is an evolution of the 2020 RB16, with team boss Christian Horner explaining at the end of last year that there would be a carryover of around 60 percent of the 2021 challenger.
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