Max Verstappen: The Inside Track on a Formula One Star

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Indeed he may well be the closest threat to Verstappen at this stage of the season. Ferrari were unable to match Red Bull for pace but also suffered a demoralising failure when Charles Leclerc had to retire with an engine problem while in third place. His teammate Carlos Sainz managed to bring his car home in fourth once Alonso had swept past him. As the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, Max was destined to be a racing driver. And as sports journalist James Gray deftly shows, since his headline-grabbing debut victory at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, Max has continued to make an indelible impression on the sport, courting criticism and plaudits in equal measure. Pyrotechnics fire after Max Verstappen crosses the finish line to win the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort in August. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images This positive assessment was matched by the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner. “The pace was good, the strategy was there, it was the best possible start for us. It was a superb race today, get on the board and get some points early.” Okay, where to start? It's good that this book is about Max Verstappen, because his awesomeness alone makes up for many of the book's weaknesses.

A definitive and intriguing biography of Max Verstappen, Formula 1’s superstar, Lewis Hamilton’s great rival and the three-time winner of the World Drivers’ Championship. The winning margins were often cavernous, in some cases almost embarrassingly so, such as the 33.731sec lead over Lando Norris in Hungary when the flag fell. There were the dominant runs, untouched from pole to flag in Bahrain, Austria and Silverstone, but what stood out were the races in which he had to break a moderate sweat. A more mature, complete driver now, Verstappen’s youthful excesses have been largely curbed and his judgement is more circumspect although he remains an aggressively confrontational driver, uncompromising with his elbows as Hamilton discovered this season.Max Verstappen hit the barriers after colliding with Lewis Hamilton during the first lap of the British GP, resulting in a red flag THE FIRST AND ONLY BIOGRAPHY OF DUTCH FORMULA ONE WUNDERKIND MAX VERSTAPPEN, NOW DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION** This year he has taken 10 wins, delivering some relentlessly confident and controlled drives for some dominant victories. He was unbowed and entirely unintimidated going up against the seven-times champion Hamilton, supremely confident in his own ability to do so. His appetite to race, to compete, is fierce. Few drivers have shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Max Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, he made history as the first Dutch driver to win the World Championship in 2021. In 2022 he retained his title with four races to spare and went on to achieve the highest season points tally of all time. Few drivers have ever shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Max Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, his debut race for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw him become the youngest driver ever to win a race, achieve a podium finish or even lead a lap.

Verstappen is in his seventh season in F1 having made his debut as its youngest driver, aged 17, in 2015. The slight, awkward teenager that climbed into a Toro Rosso has long departed. He has grown up in public and while his features still betray his youth, his confidence and authority is unmistakable. He is a man aware of the import of being in a title fight with the greatest driver of his generation, yet entirely unintimidated. What was considered arrogance by some in his youth is now calm, self-assurance. Oscar Piastri was in fourth for McLaren, the rookie’s best finish. George Russell was fifth for Mercedes with Pérez in sixth. The first and only biography of Dutch Formula One wunderkind Max Verstappen, charismatic winner of the 2021 Formula One title.However, it was exactly what I needed as a new fan. I don't know a lot about the history of the sport and about how things work and it gave me a thorough introduction. It is an unsurprising assessment from Verstappen’s proud boss but on this season’s performances, it’s also one that’s hard to argue with. Yes, the Red Bull is the class of the field this year, displaying breathtaking speed through corners and in a straight line. Verstappen would repeatedly race into a three-second lead within the opening laps after which, like F1’s own Keyser Söze, he was gone. Verstappen has been the vanguard of their charge and, had Pérez been closer to his teammate on more occasions, they might have closed it out even sooner. “Max is absolutely at the top of the game, he is the best driver in F1 at this point in time,” Horner said. “He has this inner hunger and determination and huge ability but he channels it and he does not get distracted by some of the trappings of F1, he is an out and out racer.” Nor was it out of the question. The weekend had opened with no little resentment after fans saw only eight minutes of action in first practice on Thursday and were then unable to watch a second session delayed for five hours and held behind closed doors. They were enormously disappointed and angry, having in many cases paid a small fortune to do so. A class action lawsuit has already been launched. To finish on the podium first race of the year is just amazing. What Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second best car on race one is just unreal,” said Alonso. “Hopefully people enjoyed it. We enjoyed it as well, so let’s enjoy it together.”

Hamilton, however, was hunting his prey from then on and an overtake appeared a matter of time - before Mercedes pulled the trigger and fitted him with fresh tyres. The move dropped him more than 20 seconds behind Verstappen, but with a 2s-per-lap pace advantage, a pass was inevitable and Hamilton executed it with typical ease. Worse still, Verstappen had been highly critical of the accompanying hoopla, saying repeatedly that he felt it was unnecessary and that what mattered was the racing, which he believed the sport was showing scant attention. Throughout it all Verstappen has, understandably, beamed with enjoyment. Yet along the way there were signs that for all the ease with which he was cantering to the title, his focus and the exacting standards he expected of himself and others remained undimmed.Hamilton gets past his championship rival Verstappen to take the lead with six laps to go in the Spanish GP

In a season already marked by drama this finale simply could not have been scripted nor will there be consensus on how it played out. Inevitably it ended in protests to the stewards grinding on long after the trophies had been awarded and the fans departed. The stewards rejected the protests but more wrangling may lie ahead with Mercedes having lodged an intention to appeal against the decision, and with the right to take their case to the court of arbitration for sport. As the start-finish straight thronged with fans, flags and smoke from red flares, still one of the most stirring sights in motor sport, an echoing chorus of “Carlos, Carlos, Carlos,” boomed between the grandstands. Verstappen might have a remarkable record but they were determined to take all the pleasure they could from Ferrari’s man who had fought so hard. The solace for Verstappen was that he managed to get past Bottas despite Mercedes' pace advantage, limiting the world champions' early lead. The team have without doubt played their part as they secured a sixth constructors’ title. Adrian Newey, their chief technical officer who has designed cars that have won 12 constructors’ titles and now 13 drivers’ crowns for three different teams, noted the level at which Red Bull and Verstappen have been operating. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have been involved in cars that have been dominant in the past, but we’ve never had this level of consistency,” he says. Everybody knows he is giving it all so they want to give it all. He is brutally honest Christian HornerVerstappen said this weekend that he does not care about how and where the title is won, only that it is under his belt as he continues what has been an inexorable march typified by the run at Suzuka. Having been challenged at the start by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri he held his nerve and his place sandwiched between the two charging papaya cars, kept his nose in front as they swept into the esses and that was it. As for the book, I’d have loved to read more from personal interviews with family and friends, even Max, and a lot more than was stated on his F1 career. The 2021 season could have had more coverage, but that’s a personal preference. This is one of the most exciting times we’ve seen in the sport,” he said. “We’re finally starting to see the regs pull people closer. The Williams was up there with Alex Albon, you’ve seen the McLarens now, the Astons. A lot of teams getting very, very close. Small gaps in qualifying, which is exactly what we need. Looking forward to see the rest of the year evolve.” Veľmi dobre napísaný príbeh (nenazval by som to životopis, už len vzhľadom na vek Maxa). Pútavý pohľad na jeho detstvo, formovanie, jeho cestu do F1 a napokon do Red Bullu na jeho mentalitu a zaujímavé sú najmä tie súvislosti, ktoré autor odkrýva a na ktoré upozorňuje. The second Austria race resulted in more of the same for Verstappen - who was perhaps even more dominant as he added the fastest lap bonus point to his collection from the previous weekend - while Hamilton hit problems.