Max is like Mansell – but without the Brummie accent
FLYING DUTCHMAN TO KEEP STAKES HIGH IN MONACO
RED Bull’s Monaco HQ is a giant openplan confection built on the fringe of sport’s most famous waterfront. The ‘Energy station’ it is called, and it bobs gently on the tranquil Med as glasses of booze mixed with the full array of the company’s fizzy drinks are delivered to the beautiful people who have made the guest list.
There, after practice, Christian Horner, the team principal with the best chance of tasting glory tomorrow, talked about the gunslinging man- child who is likely to duel with his team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, for the crucially important pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen, 20, has a fearlessness bordering on the reckless and watching him plant his foot to the floor through this cramped toytown will be one of the vicarious thrills of the year. ‘He has the heart of a lion,’ Horner told me. ‘He is like Nigel Mansell in that respect. Just without the Brummie accent.
‘ In the wet, passing in fast corners, any tight situations — Max has no fear. I have never seen him worried or tense at all.’
However his strengths have also been his weaknesses this season. He has put himself in perilous situations when discretion — biding his time, playing the percentages — would have served him better.
so what will be the Dutchman’s approach here on a circuit famous, among its other landmarks, for the Belle Epoque splendour of its casino, where a young Churchill was a keen player. Will Verstappen gamble, or rein in his instincts on the road where in previous years he has ended up in the barriers?
‘You have to gamble to make the difference on this track compared to other drivers,’ said Verstappen. ‘You have to risk it a bit more between the walls. I am the same person I have been since I was born. For me, nothing changes. We have a good car so we just have to extract the most out of it and hopefully come back with a good result.’
For all his on- track gusto, Verstappen is the model of a modern major sportsman. While he is an enthusiastic young bachelor, he is not obviously a James Huntstyle hedonist. Yes, he has set foot in the casino and won more than £260 on his only visit, but his view on gambling is puritanical: ‘It’s stupid in general. You go there to lose money. It doesn’t make sense. I would prefer to buy something with the money you lose. I’m never going to go back again.
‘I prefer to get my jet skis out, go on my simulator at home or on my Playstation, and my friends fly out very often.’
Verstappen, like most of the principal cast, lives in the principality. He knows his great rival for pole here is likely to be Ricciardo, who was marginally the faster man in Thursday’s practice sessions. Then came the Ferraris and Mercedes. However, Ferrari’s wider situation remains in jeopardy with the FIA monitoring a potential illegality with their cars.
If the governing body find the scuderia have bent the rules to gain an extra power boost through their battery system, they could be docked points, fined or expelled from the championship, knocking or derailing sebastian Vettel’s bid to beat lewis Hamilton to the title. The German is 17 points adrift going into tomorrow’s action.
The cynical view on the harbour- side is that, if the FIA discover Ferrari have acted illegally, the punishment, if any, will be a fudge. ‘Ferrari always get away with it,’ is the cry of many a veteran observer. A ‘clarification’ of the rules may be the extent of the redress. We will find out over the next 48 hours.
For Hamilton, victory in Monaco would feel like a bonus, given Mercedes have struggled on the circuit in recent years. ‘We have got some things to work on, but we’re not completely in the dark,’ was Hamilton’s take on his fourth position in practice. ‘We’re in a much better place than we were last year. We’re closer to Red Bull and Ferrari than I expected, but we’re still a few tenths off.’
Ricciardo would have won here two years ago but for a botched pit stop, and he feels he is owed a victory. The Australian, more than anyone, will be interested in whether Verstappen’s high-stakes game pays off.