‘Max has taken another step’: Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen has become the ‘finished product’ after winning his maiden championship
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Christian Horner and Max Verstappen celebrating the Dutchman's championship win in 2021
After winning the championship last year, Max Verstappen later made it clear that everything else that comes after this will just be a bonus. Right now, he’s in an amazing run of domination, having won 9 races out of 14. And Red Bull, on the balance of the last two weekends, seem to have the much better car, so there is no indication that this will stop anytime soon.
There has been a general consensus that Max Verstappen has evolved in his driving since his championship win. He seems much more relaxed, and also seems to have matured in his driving. Of course, there is also not a lot of pressure on his shoulders right now, as he has a huge lead on the top of the table, some courtesy of Ferrari throwing away points, but Verstappen, to his credit, has been spotless.
He’s currently leading the championship by 93 points, and Red Bull lead the Constructor’s championship by 118 points (their first since 2013), so Verstappen has a very good chance of retaining his title this year. No one will bet against that, and no one will bet against him to win more. Christian Horner agrees that the championship win has in many ways, upgraded Max Verstappen’s performances even further.
Christian Horner thinks championship win has ‘released’ Max Verstappen
In Belgium, Max Verstappen took perhaps the most impressive and dominant victory of his career. Of course, the car was head and shoulders above the rest, but Verstappen looked in a class of his own. After starting 14th, with expectations for a podium, he won the race by almost 18 seconds. His teammate, Sergio Perez, could hardly keep up.
Max Verstappen has been on another level, comfortably the best driver on the grid this year and his performances and points tallies reflect that. Belgium was just another example in a long list. As reported by RaceFans, Christian Horner agrees that Verstappen has become even better since his championship win.
Horner said: “I think that Max, since winning that championship last year, has taken another step. It’s, in many ways, released him and he’s driving at an incredible level.”
Charles Leclerc pitted on lap 43 and tried to steal the fastest lap point from Max Verstappen. It did not work, and he even lost a position to Fernando Alonso as a result of his penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Horner thinks it just shows dominant Verstappen really was. “It demonstrated the pace that even with the DRS up the hill and a soft set of tyres and probably 30 kilos less fuel than Max had, that Max’s lap still stood as the fastest from his first lap on the final set.”
Horner believes that Verstappen is a driver in the ‘absolute purple patch of his career’. However, despite their lead, Red Bull are remaining cautious, pointing to the example of Ferrari, who were 46 points ahead after Australia, but the British team managed to turn it around rather quickly. So, they are taking it one race at a time and just wanted to keep the momentum going.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)