Dutchman is starting his fifth season in F1 and the principal thinks that the 21-year-old’s work with Honda will produce a more invested and rounded driver

Mad Max no more was the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s assessment of his driver Max Verstappen’s forthcoming season. Horner, always engaging in discussing the characters of his drivers, was confident that this year it will be mature Max behind the wheel. Yet the test the young Dutchman faces may be his most challenging; watching whether he can deliver on Horner’s optimism should be compelling.

Verstappen is 21, and has an undeniable talent, aligned to a forceful, uncompromising self belief that has been at times to his detriment as well as his advantage. In both cases he has been impossible to ignore. F1 needs characters fans can relate to and care about, and in that sense Verstappen’s name is already writ large on the marquee.

Last season, his fourth in F1, was fascinating. Errors blighted the opening, so much so that a head-butt was proffered to anyone continuing to ask questions about his driving style – not the PR-friendly response that would have been trotted out by most drivers. Frustrations compounded by his dissatisfaction with the team’s Renault power unit, that led to his delightfully frank radio message after a failure in Hungary. “Fuck! What a fucking joke, all the fucking time with this shit, honestly,” as once more PRs shuddered.

‘You expect me to shake his hand?’ – Verstappen stands by push on Ocon Read more

But then he turned it around in the second half with some exceptional performances, including Russia and Singapore and seven podium positions from the last nine races, taking him to fourth in the championship. Yet that run also included his mistake in tangling with Esteban Ocon in Brazil and subsequently confronting and shoving the Frenchman after the race.

There was hand-wringing about it being a terrible example to set but in truth real emotion has always enlivened F1. Verstappen summed it with a brusque honesty, hard not to admire. “We are passionate about the sport, it would be odd if I shook his hand,” he said. “I don’t really have a lot to comment on that, except that he was being a pussy.”

But is this the Max we will see this year? Horner believes he is the driver Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel must fear and that given the tools for the job he can fight the pair for the title. Key to that is the Honda power unit they will use for the first time. Horner was optimistic that the manufacturer was on track to be competitive.

Sign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks.

“We have seen behind the scenes of their evolution. They are making good progress,” he said. “Stability of regulations will help them. They have settled on a concept and, for the first time since their re-entry to F1, that has continued from one season to the next without it being a completely clean sheet of paper. It will all depend on what the others have done, but certainly versus themselves there has been good progress.”

Red Bull are in a works relationship with Honda rather than as a customer, a factor Horner said is crucial, describing recent years with Renault as “paying for a first-class ticket and you get an economy seat”.

But as McLaren know, pre-season optimism can end in disappointment. Last season Toro Rosso went through eight Honda engines a car by the finale in Abu Dhabi. Three is the maximum before penalties are incurred. Horner was honest in accepting the team were likely to take some hits. “We would rather see consistent evolution, even if that means taking a penalty or two along the way,” he said. But might Max be so understanding?

His driving style may be one mitigating factor. Verstappen likes to carry high entry-speed into a corner. He becomes unsettled when he does not have rear stability while the engine delivers the power through the transmission as he downshifts through the gears. It was perhaps best seen in qualifying at Mexico, where he was furious at failing to take pole after having to under-drive apparently precisely because of this issue. If Honda can deliver on this level he will at least feel confident in the car beneath him, a huge benefit.

Liberty Media underestimated what it took on in F1, says Christian Horner Read more

He has also been working closely with Honda and that may make him more amenable to setbacks, as Horner explained. “There is a different engagement between him and the engineering with him and Honda than there was with Renault,” he said. “This is working far more as partnership which he is invested in.”

Most importantly, however, the team principal is convinced that the kid he took on in 2016 is now very much a man. “Max has evolved so much,” he said. “The problem last year was there was some antagonism on both sides, that ends in a whirlwind of frustration. He has been through that, that character-building experience. He is more worldly, more experienced. He is in a better place to deal with pressures that are placed on him.”

F1 would be all the better if Red Bull can really challenge this season but even if they cannot, how Verstappen handles being in the vanguard or indeed the rearguard is likely to be as engrossing as ever.