After winning four consecutive titles, Max Verstappen has cemented his name among the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Despite facing considerable challenges and faster opponents last season, his brilliance carried him over the line, showcasing his maturity as a driver.
However, it wasn’t always this way. While he was widely regarded as a child prodigy, High Performance podcast guest Calum Nicholas noted, “I think it was so obvious that there was just this raw, untamed talent in Max that was going to be incredible.”
On the flip side, he was also error-prone and reckless in his early years. Additionally, Red Bull faced reliability issues in 2016 and 2017, making it difficult to gauge his true potential. Fans had to wait a few more years to see his actual ceiling—and he didn’t disappoint.
With each passing season, he continues to break records and now holds the third-highest number of wins in F1 history, trailing only Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
So what development led to Verstappen being so good? “I think what’s made Max so great now is that he’s mastered all those other little things, like his awareness of what else is going on in a race, like his ability to sort of control a race,” answered Nicholas.
“I think he’s so formidable because he just does everything well. The thing that you’ve seen in past champions is that it’s not just about one bit of talent or speed or whatever. It’s that they manage everything in the paddock so well. Certainly, in terms of like, we’ve watched Max mature into this guy that just seems untouchable,” he added.
In 2016 the world was mesmerized by the talent of young Max verstappen https://t.co/xWPuqhOF3h pic.twitter.com/SxrzfelMY7
— Dutchmaxflying (@dutchmaxflying) February 13, 2025
The grid of 20 drivers is an exclusive club. So why aren’t most of them, aside from a select few, nearly as good as the Red Bull star? David Coulthard once provided an answer.
What keeps Verstappen, Schumacher and Hamilton in a different league?
Podcast host Jake Humphrey shares an anecdote with David Coulthard from his days working in F1. He recalls that while Coulthard had his good days, he wanted to know what made him inferior to Michael Schumacher. Coulthard’s response provided valuable insight.
“Jake, it was spare capacity. I was good to a point, but then beyond a certain moment—in the rain, wheel to wheel, an hour into a Grand Prix—he [Schumacher] had the spare capacity to do a little bit more. And I’m really interested in this phenomenon.”
Humphrey then asked Calum Nicholas if he had seen Verstappen exhibit a similar “spare capacity.” Nicholas pointed to Verstappen’s absolute dominance in 2023, where he won 19 out of 22 races, missing out only in Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Singapore.
Perhaps Verstappen’s most impressive recent performance came in Brazil. Against all odds, he secured victory in challenging weather conditions—a result that proved instrumental in sealing his title last year. That win, without a doubt, belongs in the history books.
