Max Verstappen has been utterly flawless since 2022. Many would even say that he has reached a level of perfection, enunciated by his streak of dominance in the sport. That being said, the Dutch lion was once prone to reckless mistakes, too. Verstappen has himself revealed a time in his F1 career when the shrewd Red Bull advisor, Helmut Marko, scolded the 3x champion for a mistake he committed, according to FormulaPassion.
Helmut Marko has been notorious for being a hard mentor. The ex-racing driver has cultivated a crop of world beaters by being a ruthless mentor that the drivers look up to and fear. As it turns out, Max Verstappen was no different.
📊#DHLFastestLap s in the 2023 season so far:
🇧🇭 1:33.996 – 🇨🇳Z. Guanyu
🇸🇦 1:31.906 – 🇳🇱M. Verstappen
🇦🇺 1:20.235 – 🇲🇽S. Perez
🇦🇿 1:43.370 – 🇬🇧G. Russel
🇺🇸 1:29.708 – 🇳🇱M. Verstappen
🇸🇲 Weekend cancelled
🇲🇨 1:15.650 – 🇬🇧L. Hamilton
🇪🇸 1:16.330 – 🇳🇱M. Verstappen
🇨🇦 1:14.481 -… pic.twitter.com/F8dOUzrJHr— F1 Stats (@F1StatsFDN) October 12, 2023
Verstappen has been the golden boy for the Bulls ever since he made his F1 debut in 2015. Even though the Dutch lion made his Red Bull debut in 2016 and won, he was on the receiving end of some tough love from Marko when he made a costly mistake during the 2016 US Grand Prix.
The day when Helmut Marko tore Max Verstappen to shreds
While in conversation with Formula E world champion Antonio Felix da Costa, Verstappen seemingly opened up about his relationship with Marko and how there was a time when even Red Bull’s poster boy wasn’t safe from the Austrian’s wrath.
He revealed, “I think I was 5th, but during the race I was getting closer and closer to the group in front of me – he said – my engineer (Gianpiero Lambiase) told me told to push. Usually when he says that, it means I have to make a pit stop soon. At the end of the lap I entered the pit lane and immediately realized that he didn’t mean to give me that message. At that point I shouted on the radio that I was making a pit stop and suddenly I saw all the mechanics running around me. It was an awkward moment. Helmut Marko was obviously very angry with me after the race.”
🚨 As per F1-insider sources Max Verstappen has made it clear in coversations with Mintzlaff and the Thai boss that if Marko goes then he leaves too 😬
[@F1insidercom] pic.twitter.com/9Xsv0Xewps
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) October 18, 2023
But over the years, Verstappen has developed as a driver at a meteoric rate. He has left his youthful mistakes behind and stands as one of the most consistent and cost-effective drivers on the contemporary F1 grid.
Verstappen has been a model of consistency in 2023
Throughout the season so far, Verstappen has become a citation for consistency. Despite the cars being trickier to drive this year than ever before, the 3x champion has made virtually no mistakes as he went on the dominate the season and win it all.
Verstappen’s consistency alone has been the single biggest factor in his dominance this season. While his teammate, Sergio Perez, struggles with errors in equal machinery, Verstappen, through his utter consistency, built a huge gap to his rivals that secured his 3rd consecutive championship during the Qatar GP Sprint Race.
With the trajectory that Verstappen and Red Bull have taken in 2023, a betting man would vouch for the 26-year-old to still be dominating the sport in the years to come.
