Verstappen “never panicked” on way to F1 title despite Red Bull deficit

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has commended Max Verstappen’s work ethic and state of mind after the Dutch driver clinched the 2024 Formula 1 title despite his car’s struggles.

Red Bull’s season got off to a flying start with Verstappen winning six of the first nine grands prix, leading 1-2s in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

However, Verstappen subsequently went through a nine-round winless streak – which was unprecedented for him since the 2020 season – as McLaren surged to the front of the field while Ferrari and Mercedes contended for race wins as well.

“It almost felt like something changed dramatically,” Horner explained to Autosport in an end-of-season interview. “Suddenly three other teams became competitive, and we suddenly started to experience some issues that became very limiting.

“Then it was a question of ‘and then your tools don’t correlate with what’s going on on track’. And that’s when the driver really becomes a key element.

“And Max never panicked. Even on the tough days, he spent the long hours with the engineers really rolling his sleeves up and getting stuck in. Working behind the scenes on the simulator, spending the time with vehicle dynamicists and aerodynamicists just talking through ‘OK, this is where you need to focus, this is where the key issue is with this one’, based on what he’s feeling.

“When your tools don’t tie in with the circuit, the best sense of that you’ve got is the driver. And that’s where Max was hugely impressive this year – the leadership that he inspired from within the car for the direction that we needed to take to address some of the issues.” 

Horner insisted on the crucial impact Verstappen had in terms of technical feedback when the team needed to uncover the source of the RB20’s woes.

“He is just very straight to the point of what are the limiting factors and what are the characteristics that the car is giving him that are limiting him from going quicker. So, he will pinpoint very clearly: ‘This is where there is lap time, focus on this area.’

“During the middle part of the season, the tools weren’t really correlating with the circuit, and that’s where he had to play a very key role in giving the engineers the key focal areas of where they needed to put time and effort to improve.

“And we’ve then seen at the back end of the year performance start to come back on the car.”

Verstappen managed to retain his early advantage in the standings and clinch the title by making fewer mistakes and proving more consistent than chief rival Lando Norris and other drivers, never finishing a grand prix outside the top six.

Horner said his driver’s performance was down to his “tenacious driving, strategy, and teamwork”.

“What’s really stood out this year is the way that Max has driven,” the Briton added. “On days that he couldn’t win, he bagged the points.

“He just adapts incredibly well to what he’s got. And what he showed, really, this year is just another level of maturity and experience. I thought races that he drove in places like Zandvoort, Singapore – the days he couldn’t win but was still bringing home hard-earned points – were incredibly important.”