Wearing his flat peaked cap and dressed in his Red Bull polo shirt, backpack on his shoulders, Max Verstappen enters a paddock like a schoolboy arrives in class. All in sobriety, the double world champion has only one thing in mind: to win. It is what he is doing again easily this year.
At this time last year, we were talking about a start to the season signed Verstappen. About 365 days later, the portrait is the same. The Dutch driver will arrive in Montreal with, in his backpack, five triumphs in seven Grands Prix.
Just two weeks ago, in Spain, the 25-year-old athlete managed a Grand Slam to clinch his 40th career victory and continue his almost total and absolute domination. To put it bluntly, in his last 26 races, Verstappen has finished just four times further than second place. His talent, combined with the power of the RB19, makes him the best driver on the grid.
We could spend hours talking about the Red Bull driver’s achievements, but let’s also look at his unique personality, which contrasts with that of Lewis Hamilton, who ruled the grid not too long ago.
As is often the case in F1 and sport in general, opinions are divided on Verstappen, who signed his first contract aged 16 and entered the circuit aged 17. Over the years, fans have learned to discover a confident, meticulous, sometimes impulsive, often stern athlete, both with himself and his team.
As a reminder, a sentence uttered by a 17-year-old Verstappen, in a joint interview with ex-Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, published on the F1 website in 2015:
“I tell my engineers not to overload me with information. We get way too much information in the cockpit. Sometimes I turn off my car display! I want to trust my instincts. Isn’t that what created great racing drivers? »
Sandrine Garneau, Director of Communications and Marketing for the Grand Prix du Canada since 2014, is one of the few people in Quebec to meet the teams and their drivers and to interact with them as part of her work. At the end of the line, she tells us about her first meeting with Max Verstappen, in 2015.
Two weeks earlier, in Monaco, the then youngest driver in F1 history had had an accident on the track. “I remember we were watching it because it was the new darling. He was coming to Montreal for the first time. […] We had held our breath a bit. »
Thankfully, Verstappen showed up in Canada ready to race. Ms. Garneau remembers an already serious young man, “there to do his job.”
“He was super polite, super nice, but I wasn’t his friend,” she says. He was still very professional in his approach. That’s the word I would use. »
The publicist recalls an anecdote from 2018, during the Le Grand Soir event, organized at Quai Alexandra. Max Verstappen showed up with Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
“It was a full 180 [degree] [turn]. He was funny. He arrived in a t-shirt and shorts. He was there to have fun. He was making jokes. He was a little guy! He was there to have fun. After that, he hit the red carpet and he was super professional. »
If Verstappen has always been serious and focused on his work, he has acquired a certain maturity over the years. He has mellowed, even if he remains highly critical. He is also more comfortable in front of the cameras and the media.
“I think he has acquired media maturity,” said Sandrine Garneau. Before, he stuck to the lines of the press, to what was dictated. There, he became world champion, he gained experience and maturity. He says, “this is who I am.” »
“I like him, Max. […] With him, what you see is what you get. »