Max Verstappen was on top of our rankings at mid-season but slipped one place by the end of the year. He set himself a high standard over the opening 12 races, which he couldn’t quite sustain over the balance of the season.

It isn’t simply the case that Verstappen performed very well against a two much less convincing team mates – the under-performing Pierre Gasly and inexperienced Alexander Albon. He has regularly maximised – to borrow a word which, appropriately, is one of his favourites – what was available from the Red Bull-Honda package.

Early in the season that meant nicking podiums when he could, like when he saw off the Ferraris in Australia and Spain, and piling up fourth- and fifth-place finishes the rest of the time. Only in Monaco did he slightly over-extend himself in pursuit of a victory which probably wasn’t on, carving up one Mercedes in the pits and nudging the other in an over-optimistic attempt to grab his first Honda-powered victory.

That finally came in Austria, where Mercedes’ form finally dipped. Even so, Verstappen had to bounce back from a sluggish start (one of several he made during 2019) and overcome the resurgent Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Driving like nothing was going to stop him, Verstappen fought his way to the front and relieved Leclerc of the lead with the kind of forceful driving he has made his trademark.

Verstappen followed up that breakthrough win with a superb drive a month later in the rain for another win at the Hockenheimring, and put up a stern fight against Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, narrowly missing out on a third victory in four races.

The stellar start to Verstappen’s season stalled after the summer break. Things began to go awry at Spa where a first-lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen ended his run of strong finishes. An engine penalty at Monza meant a recovery drive was needed, but he lost time tangling with Sergio Perez on his way to the front.

Max Verstappen Beat team mate in qualifying 18/19 Beat team mate in race 15/18 Races finished 18/21 Laps spent ahead of team mate 985/1159 Qualifying margin -0.74 Points 278

A sub-par qualifying performance at Suzuka didn’t help, though he was blameless in the collision with Leclerc which ruined his race. Similarly in Mexico it wasn’t his fault a gutsy pass on Bottas left him with a race-ruining puncture, but he almost certainly wouldn’t have been there begin with had he slowed for yellow flags in qualifying and started from pole position instead of a penalised fourth place.

On other occasions Verstappen continued to wring the best out of the RB15. He beat the Mercedes in Singapore and the Ferraris in America. He ended the season on the podium again in Yas Marina.

There are any number of reasons why neither of the Ferrari drivers ended the year ahead of Verstappen in the championship, but both of them should have. Verstappen’s raw speed combined with hard and sharp racecraft, now tempered by just the right measure of maturity, helped him take advantage of them and finish the season a superb third.

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Over to you

What’s your verdict on Max Verstappen’s 2019 season? Which drivers do you feel he performed better or worse than? Have your say in the comments.

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2019 F1 season review