Verstappen's 'Extraordinary Talent' Is What Makes Difference

Wednesday, 13 March 2024 at 13:30

In his recent column, Helmut Marko compared the driving styles of his two drivers, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.

Throughout all the seasons that they spent together at Red Bull so far (2021-2023), Max Verstappen clearly outperformed his teammate Sergio Perez.

In fact, the closest that the Mexican driver ever got to the triple World Champion at the end of the season was in 2022, when he finished 149 points behind.

In his column for speedweek.com, Helmut Marko explained why the 2022 Red Bull's challenger suited Checo better than the car that followed in 2023.

"Checo used to be quick with cars that are good-natured. However, good-natured cars are rarely fast. In 2022, it was advantageous for him that our car was overweight."

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The problem was that Red Bull couldn't win the championship with an overweight car, and Marko suggested that this proved to be the case during the first part of 2022, when Ferrari was faster.

"This made it tend toward being more good-natured, with more understeer and a stable rear. But it wasn't fast – in the first half of the season, Ferrari was actually faster. Only through strategy and driving errors by Leclerc did this turn in our favor."

According to Christian Horner, Red Bull didn't change much about their car between the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Their goal was to trim down as much weight as possible before making bigger changes.

As Marko continued to explain, Red Bull then became much quicker in 2023 and is again faster in 2024, but it comes with more "nervous" or unstable rear of the car.

The 80-year-old then suggested that this is where Verstappen's exceptional talent stands out, as he is able to deal with it better than anyone else.

"Now, our car is indeed fast, and the fact that Max can handle a nervous rear better than anyone else is thanks to his extraordinary talent and makes the difference."