Horner: “Max is in the form of his life”

Author of the second best time in Free Practice 1 in the Principality, 59 thousandths behind the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen for the moment takes on the role of main (only?) opponent of the German strike force.

The dynamic is not new since the leader of the team Red Bull has been riding a positive dynamic since the kick-off in Melbourne, as evidenced by its 3rd place in the Drivers' ranking, ahead of the two riders Ferrari yet equipped with a more efficient car on paper. 

Since his debut in the premier category in 2015, Verstappen has put on a show and a scare in Monaco, between incredible balancing performances, cheeky overtaking maneuvers, and costly accidents. Given his current form, however, the Batavian seems able to put everything together this season.  

« We had a solid start to the campaign, we were particularly consistent with two podiums already. (Australia and Spain, Editor’s note) and five top-four finishes for Max, recalled his boss Christian Horner. We have introduced several developments in Barcelona and now need to optimize them. 

We have always performed well in Monaco. The first laps were encouraging but Mercedes' performance in the last sector of Barcelona made them the big favorites for the weekend. That said, we will do everything to put them under pressure. 

Max's record in Monaco is full of ups and downs. Last year’s weekend was particularly hard for him to swallow. Our pace in FP1 was encouraging but the Mercedes is a hell of a machine. Max is in the form of his life and this is probably our best chance to annoy Mercedes yet. Let’s try to build on these promising beginnings ». 

Beyond his high-flying performances this season, it is truly since his complicated Monaco weekend in 2018 that Verstappen has been evolving at an impressive level. Horner readily admits that his foal’s progress over the past year has been spectacular.

« If you rewind 12 months ago, Max had just experienced arguably the most complicated weekend of his career, added the main team from Milton Keynes. He had a car to win but an accident in FP3 deprived him of qualifying. He did a lot of introspection after this missed opportunity. 

Since Montreal last year, he has been evolving at an incredible level. He has crossed a threshold. This season, he has always extracted the quintessence of his material, if not more. He is getting to a stage where he is leading the team on technical development and is really enjoying this role ». 

This shows the extent to which the challenge his teammate must face Pierre Gasly is tall.