Max Verstappen had tears in his eyes when his former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo beat him to pole in the 2018 Monaco GP.
Max Verstappen started off the 2018 season with several crashes and some of them were with his own teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
One of the major ones came at the 2018 Monaco GP, which resulted in being a turning point for the Dutchman.
During the practice session in Monaco, Ricciardo was fastest across all three practice sessions, improving his time every time. In FP3, Verstappen crashed heavily at Turn 16.
Verstappen’s car suffered a massive impact and was beyond repair for Saturday’s qualifying. Following this, Ricciardo took pole and went ahead to also claim victory on the race day.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has now revealed that this came as a life-changing turn for the young Red Bull driver. It had so much impact on him that Verstappen was in tears. “That’s when I saw Max in tears for the first time,” Marko said.
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Red Bull threw Max Verstappen into the deep end
Verstappen made his Formula 1 debut in 2014 with the Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso, now known as AlphaTauri. He became the youngest driver, at the age of 17, to make his debut at the pinnacle of motorsport.
Marko revealed that the team deliberately chose to throw the young Dutchman into the Japanese GP in 2014 to determine his talents.
The 79-year-old describes the track in Suzuka as a circuit for tough guys which would immediately reveal the talents of a driver.
Marko believed that in Verstappen he has found a driver who would set a new benchmark in the sport. The then 17-year-old Verstappen proved Marko right when he delivered a competitive performance the first time out in F1 at Suzuka.
The Austrian advisor also believes that Verstappen would have the championship in 2019. He said, “I think it’s because of those miraculously fast engines from Ferrari in 2019 and then Mercedes kicked it up a notch, leaving us with Honda behind again. Otherwise, he might have become champion back then.”
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