Christian Horner has offered an insight into what makes Max Verstappen such a ruthless operator on the racetrack, claiming that he would ‘bet his house’ on the three-time world champion setting the fastest opening lap at the start of each FP1 session.
The 26-year-old wrapped up his third successive Drivers’ Championship crown in relentless fashion in 2023, winning 19 out of a possible 22 Grands Prix en route to the title. Despite securing his latest triumph in Qatar’s sprint race with six races left, Verstappen didn’t let up.
Following on from his title-winning second-place finish in the Qatar sprint race, Verstappen claimed the Grand Prix victory to round off the weekend the next day, before chaining together another five consecutive race wins to end the year in style.
Discussing the three-time world champion’s personality on the Secrets of Success podcast, Horner explained: “Max as a person is just a very sweet 26-year-old young man who has a passion for racing and is not very comfortable with the fame and notoriety he has. He just wants to do his job, race hard and is very honest and straightforward.
“He likes to play FIFA on his PlayStation when he is not in a race car. Outside the car, he’s a sweet guy. When he’s in the car, he’s ruthless. I’ve never met a driver who is as driven as Max is as soon as he gets in the car. You know you’re going to get 110 per cent from him and he expects it back from the team.
“As soon as we start a race weekend, that first lap, which is actually meaningless, Max is the driver who is the fastest on the first lap – often two to three seconds faster than the rest. I dare to bet my house on that. For him, this is a way to show that he is performing at the peak of his abilities and is the authority, that he is one with his car.”
After maximising the performance of the RB19 throughout the 2023 campaign, Verstappen will now turn his attention to defending his crown once again. Such was the extent of Red Bull’s advantage last season, the reigning champions were able to fully switch their attention to the development of their 2024 challenger in Singapore.
The Dutchman is, therefore, well-placed to fight for a fourth World Championship in succession, although it won’t all be plain sailing. McLaren and Ferrari both ended the season in fine form, while historic rivals Mercedes are pursuing a different design philosophy and are also hoping to take the fight to Verstappen.
