‘A mega talent’: Horner puts Max Verstappen among the greats of F1
Christian Horner hailed his driver Max Verstappen as one of the greats of Formula One, after the Dutchman matched Ayrton Senna’s tally of wins with victory for Red Bull at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen took the flag in Montreal with another dominant run from pole to secure his 41st career win, equalling Senna. He now has six wins from eight races this season and, with a 69-point lead over his teammate Sergio Pérez in the championship, is on course to seal his third title sooner rather than later. Horner believes those achievements have elevated his driver to stand among the very best the sport has produced.
“What we are witnessing with Max is the emergence of another mega talent,” the Red Bull team principal said. “You can start talking about him in the same sentence as the greats now after he matched Ayrton Senna.
“Max just keeps delivering at such a high level. The race was fantastic but to take pole position in conditions that were continually changing, his ability to adapt to whatever grip level he had, was Max at his best.”
Verstappen, who is only 25 despite being in his eighth season in Formula One, is now the fifth most successful F1 driver in terms of wins, behind Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton who heads the field with 103. Verstappen acknowledged the feat was “incredible” and Horner believed it was significant for the Dutchman.
“Part of him inside will be quite proud of that,” Horner said. “I don’t think he is one to show huge emotion. He is a very modest guy. He is very understated in many ways. But behind the scenes it will mean quite a lot to him.”
The win was also the 100th for Red
Bull since the team’s debut in 2005. With their car the class of the field this year, more are sure to follow as they look to close out another drivers’ and constructors’ championship double. They remain unbeaten this year with eight wins from eight meetings, still potentially able to complete a record clean sweep of victories.
They are unlikely to be caught this season and Hamilton, who was third behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in Canada, believes they enjoy such an advantage that they may have already shifted resources into developing next year’s car. His Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, who was pleased with the steps his team have made with their new car concept, conceded that they remained around two-tenths of a lap off Red Bull and Hamilton acknowledged that bridging that gap was a tall order.
“There’s nothing I can do about their amazing performance,” he said. “It’s likely that they will win every race, moving forwards, this year, unless the Astons and us put a lot more performance on the cars.”
Wolff, however, confirmed that Mercedes
were pressing on with a very aggressive development programme, promising major upgrades for the British Grand Prix, which should suit their car’s strengths. “We are bringing a large one to Silverstone and another one before the [summer] shutdown,” he said. “The learning has accelerated a lot since we changed some of the conceptual architecture, so there should be decent steps coming in the next four races.”