It was clear many years ago that Max Verstappen was something special, even before he had sat in an actual racing car. His progress through karting was impressive and in 2014 Red Bull and Mercedes fought over the young Formula 3 driver. Red Bull won because it was able to offer him an F1 drive, while Mercedes could only agree to put him into its young driver programme. Verstappen, and his dad Jos, who had his F1 career blighted by wrong career decisions, decided that it was better to be racing, adding to Max’s reputation and value. That was the right decision and early in 2016 Red Bull switched him from Scuderia Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing itself, as it considered him a better bet than Daniil Kvyat. Max won on his debut with the team in Spain. It was a fortunate victory because the two Mercedes collided, but it was a win nonetheless. The victory broke a string of different records, making him the youngest F1 winner ever (at 18 years and 228 days), the youngest man ever on a podium, the first Dutchman to win a Grand Prix and the first F1 driver born in the 1990s to become a winner. This year Max has been unlucky and frustrated but it all came together in Malaysia, where he was able to outrun Lewis Hamilton and win, but he wasn’t really satisfied because he knew that if the two Ferraris had not had troubles he would not have won his second victory. He was asked on Saturday about his best moment in racing and said that it was still when he became the World KZ Kart Champion in 2013 at Varennes in France.

“It still is,” he said on Sunday.

So the win in Malaysia did not feel better than that karting victory?

“No,” he said. “Because it doesn’t feel like that…”

Max is remarkable for his age and he is a key player for the future of Formula 1 because he is getting the attention of his own age group, something which the older stars Kimi Raikkonen (37), Fernando Alonso (36), Lewis Hamilton (31), Sebastian Vettel (30) and Daniel Ricciardo (28) have failed to do. There is some excitement in F1 circles about the new generation led by Max, but including Esteban Ocon (21), Pascal Wehrlein (soon to be 23), Lance Stroll (19) and Carlos Sainz (23). They will soon be joined by Charles Leclerc (who will be 20 this month) and, probably, Antonio Giovinazzi (23).

Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull in 2018, but there are performance clauses that Red Bull Racing might not be able to achieve, if that is the case then Max could come onto the market. He seems to be a shoe-in at Mercedes, where Valtteri Bottas is one a one-year contract, but he might also go to Ferrari, where Kimi Raikkonen is also on a one-year deal. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are currently the big cheeses of F1, but having Verstappen alongside one or the other could be destabilising. Hamilton seems to be more serene about his team-mates, while Vettel seems a little more insecure in this respect, preferring Raikkonen, who is no great threat these days.

The decision will not be just about money. The Verstappens know that there will be plenty of rewards in the years ahead and so they are looking for the best performance to esnure that Max can win and add to his value – because he likes winning. Red Bull Racing cannot do a great deal to keep Verstappen, based on current performance and the fact that Renault has it own factory team but in Ricciardo they have a solid and very good racer and there will be no shortage of talented youngsters on offer if Max moves on.