The Mercedes-Ferrari dynamic has been the centre of attention in Formula 1 this year but their usually headline-grabbing rival has had a quietly impressive start to the 2019 season.
At this point last year every step Max Verstappen took was a mis-step.
He departed the early flyaway races having been involved in a series of incidents, solidifying the impression that he was trying too much, too soon, and the criticism mounted. Stumbling, bumbling, clattering his way through 2018.
It reached a nadir with an unnecessary practice crash that wrecked his Monaco prospects and even the Red Bull management issued him with a public dressing down.
Verstappen insisted he saw no reason to change but since that setback he has been largely magnificent – and that form has carried through to 2019.
Verstappen has been a near-constant in the headlines since his arrival in Formula 1 in 2015. He was always going to be, due to the manner in which he was thrust into the championship aged just 17. And, when Red Bull promoted him to the senior team after only 23 races – winning on his first time out – that scrutiny naturally magnified. Verstappen courted and created controversy at nearly every race, re-defining the regulations and splitting opinion over his conduct. As with the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, being around the sharp end of the grid so soon meant every mistake was given more column inches.
And yet this year he has been almost anonymous (in comparison) – and propelled himself into the title reckoning in the process.
In the third-best package Verstappen has managed to collect a podium finish and three successive fourth-place finishes, beating a Ferrari driver on each occasion.
In Australia Verstappen used fresher tyres to out-fox Sebastian Vettel and grab third, having already been ahead of Charles Leclerc, delivering a podium first time out for Red Bull-Honda. It was a result that undoubtedly boosted morale on both sides of the nascent partnership, and a reward for the hard-working employees after three miserable years with McLaren and a learning season out of the spotlight at Toro Rosso.
Red Bull struggled in Bahrain but Verstappen maximised the performance by racing from fifth to fourth, even if he was a little fortunate to escape unharmed from a robust clash with ex-team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. In China it was another fourth, having undercut Leclerc while Ferrari messed around with team instructions, and in Azerbaijan Verstappen was closing on Vettel after the pit stop phase until the Virtual Safety Car period. Red Bull struggled more with tyre temperatures at the restart while Verstappen also adhered to an instruction to avoid kerb usage in the wake of team-mate Pierre Gasly’s driveshaft failure. Team boss Christian Horner suspected Red Bull had stronger overall pace than Ferrari.
“We just need a bit more grip and a bit more power,” quipped Verstappen after his 13th straight race in the top five. It is, therefore, difficult to envisage how Verstappen could have enjoyed a stronger start to the season under the circumstances. Considering the infancy of the Red Bull-Honda relationship the early results are promising. Red Bull’s chassis remains a work-in-progress, with its Bahrain dip identifying weaknesses, while Honda has managed to marry reliability with eye-catching performance at four different circuits. It is not quite there in qualifying, and remains behind its opponents in race trim, but this is the best Honda F1 has seen so far. That Honda has already accelerated development and brought Spec 2 to just the fourth race – a minor performance update allied to reliability fixes post-China – is a sign of its intent.
“We could run the engine a little bit harder in the race as well,” said Horner. “So yeah it’s all part of that evolution. There were no issues with the previous engine that we have, so they’ll be used on Fridays.”
There will be grid penalties at some stage, but Verstappen proved at last year’s US Grand Prix that a Saturday demotion is no restriction to a Sunday podium, given the advantage of the top teams. He will – and surely already is – benefitting from being Red Bull’s de facto number one driver now that Daniel Ricciardo has sought a fresh start at Renault. In 2018 Verstappen and Ricciardo famously clashed in Azerbaijan. Last weekend Gasly, albeit on an alternative strategy, moved aside for the Dutchman.
Winning the title in Red Bull-Honda’s first year may be beyond Verstappen but the longer the Dutchman maximises results the longer he remains realistically in the hunt as and when the partnership can take the fight to Mercedes and Ferrari. He is ‘only’ 36 points behind the lead drivers in a season in which 1-2s have been on the menu for the Mercs. Verstappen has been unusually – and beneficially – quiet so far in 2019 but the outsider in the title fight is doing everything right. He is no longer the upstart cage-rattler in the top six in terms of experience now that Leclerc and Gasly have joined the party, even if, age wise, he is but two weeks older than Ferrari’s protégé and actually 18 months younger than his own team-mate. He is still brash, still rapid, but has added a maturity that was previously absent. “We have to keep on trying to collect points when we are still not quite quick enough in qualifying for example, as we started behind them, and at the moment that’s what we’re doing,” he said post-Azerbaijan. The long game is now in view. You can't win a title early doors but you can certainly lose it. Monaco – if he can keep it out of the wall – is surely a prime opportunity to deliver a win.
His rivals would be remiss to discount him. And if he leaves the Principality within eye-shot of the title lead, and with Red Bull-Honda chipping away at the leading teams, the current outsider will remain a factor for a long time.
