Max Verstappen – True brilliance at 17

Max Verstappen

First and foremost, I would like to kick this piece off with an apology. I would like to apologize to Max Verstappen for doubting his credentials, I thought he was going to come into Formula One and be about as disciplined behind the wheel as a mentally defective Hyena. Alas, that has been far from the case. In the three races that we have seen he has put in the best drives, considering his very brief motorsport career, that I have been alive to witness. So, sorry Max, you're brilliant, truly brilliant.

The reason I chose to write this piece is essentially to admit how wrong I was about this boy – I can actually say 'boy' because he can't even legally go out and buy a few cans of cider. Verstappen is incredible behind the wheel. I read Martin Brundle's fantastic piece on Sky Sports F1 about Verstappen after the Chinese Grand Prix.

In the piece Brundle held him up there with the likes of Senna and Schumacher in terms of maturity, feel and speed behind the wheel, I could do nothing but echo his sentiments. I am the world's biggest Senna fan, probably, and I cannot stand saying someone is as good as him because in my eyes no one could even come close. However, I simply could not bring myself to anger after reading Brundle's piece purely because he's right. Verstappen could very well be the next driver to enter the pantheon of greats who have come before him.

Of course, Verstappen is only three races into his Formula One career so you may accuse me, and indeed Brundle, of jumping the gun and throwing great big buckets of soppy praise at him. Nevertheless, I cannot see him doing anything other than winning multiple championships; and in phenomenal style too. As I touched on earlier, I thought that Verstappen was going to come in and make rookie error after rookie error but he's been borderline perfect. Some of the moves he was pulling into turn 14 in China were, let's be honest here, fucking ridiculous. Daniel Ricciardo, a driver who myself among many others, lauded last season because of his overtaking skills could not pull off anything close to what Verstappen was doing.

Ricciardo was throwing the moves on down the inside of Marcus Ericsson but could not make them stick. He locked up time and time again and Ericsson was free to potter about his business with little to no worries. Ricciardo did eventually get the move done, but Verstappen had pulled off at least four of the same moves in the race before Ricciardo managed one. It was an incredible display of natural feel for where the grip is in a car. He was obviously braking with tremendous force considering how late most of his moves were, but you never felt there was any panic in the Toro Rosso. He covered off the apex, caressed the car into the corner and got on the power early leaving his victims for dead. It was majestic, it was Senna-esque, and let's not forget – HE'S 17!

Another thing that I have been massively impressed with is how quickly he adapts and how nailed on he gets his car setups. If we compare him to Romain Grosjean, an immensely talented driver in my mind, but who often struggles to get the right balance in his car over the course of weekend. Even when Lotus had a great car in 2012 and 2013 he wasn't the best at finding the sweet spot. Grosjean is a driver with a hell of a lot of single-seater experience and when he's on his game he's one of the quickest guys on the grid, yet he still struggles with what you would say is one of the fundamentals of motorsport.

Yet Verstappen, a man who only has slightly more single-seater experience than I have, has set up his car on the money for all three races this season on very different tracks. Australia, a tight, technical street circuit he outshone pretty much everyone, then Malaysia and China both open with technical sections, however China favors speed through long sweepers, Malaysia is much heavier braking and mechanical grip orientated. He's never raced on these circuits before and he's adapted so quickly to them, it's incredible.

I am acutely aware that this is turning into a borderline love letter for Verstappen, but I feel I need to right some wrongs for doubting him in the first place. I shall stop now though before it gets too embarrassing for both me and Max. It's going to be a real pleasure to watch this young man's career develop into something, which I think, will be very special. He will be a driver that the F1 fraternity will talk about for years, and years to come.

I just hope to fuck I haven't jinxed the poor chap. Palmer On Motorsports