Super Max: A decade of chaos and glory
- Bo Helmus
- 44 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Today marks the 10-year anniversary of Max Verstappen’s maiden F1 win at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to see what has made him go from the most critiqued driver to one of the most loved drivers in the sport.
Just before the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner made the decision to swap his driver Daniil Kvyat with the young Toro Rosso-driver Verstappen. This turned out to be a lucky gamble, with Verstappen soon becoming the star of Red Bull.
His maiden win
The Dutchman started his first race for the team from fourth place. The Mercedes were running in first and second but collided in turn 4 — moving the Red Bulls to the front. An interesting race with different tyre-strategies followed. Verstappen managed to get first position and keep everyone behind him, becoming the youngest driver to ever win a grand prix at 18 years old.
The race in Barcelona was a perfect example of Verstappen's talent, but the young driver had much to learn. He was very aggressive in the early stages of his career, which annoyed his competitors.
Changing the rules, literally
In the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, the 18-year-old made several late defensive moves, forcing his competitors to take evasive action at high speed. At the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix, a similar event occurred with Verstappen forcing Hamilton off the track with a very late defensive move. These incidents exposed a grey area in the rules and triggered the FIA to change the rulebook. From now on, drivers could only make one move to defend, but not after committing to breaking.
This is not the last time the FIA changed their rules due to the Dutchman. In 2017, at the Circuit of the Americas, Verstappen overtook Kimi Räikkönen outside of the track and subsequently pulled from the podium after a late penalty. From this moment on, track limits were followed much stricter.
Even though the early years are mostly known as Verstappen’s aggressive phase, he still surprised friends and enemies with some amazing moves. At the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, he drove the race of his life and showed everyone he was a master of driving in the wet. He spun, but kept his car out of the wall, and after a questionable gamble on slick tyres, Verstappen made up 13 places in the last 16 laps to finish on the podium.
Aggressive
The Red Bull wasn’t the fastest car on the grid, but Verstappen wanted to win. He listened to Senna, maybe too closely, and went for all the gaps — even if the gaps weren’t big enough. Think about incidents like the start of the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix, where Verstappen squeezed in between the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Räikkönen and took all three of them out of the race.
Another example is the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix, where the Dutchman made a late dive-bomb move on Vettel, which caused them both to spin. All these incidents in the beginning of Verstappen’s racing career made him a very aggressive and unlikable driver among the field.
In the first four years of his career, Verstappen received 15 time-penalties during races. Seven of them were in 2018. To give some context: in the remaining seven years of his career, he ‘only’ received 16 time-penalties. The Dutchman knew he had to take action, and mentioned he would “change his approach.”
The pivoting point
After 2018, Verstappen seemed to have managed to change his approach. He was more mature in the car, chose better gaps and made cleaner overtakes. He was still aggressive, but did it within the rules. He became more predictable and mastered wheel-to-wheel battling.
What might’ve helped, is that his Red Bull was more competitive. Verstappen didn’t have to go for impossible overtakes anymore, because he knew a better moment would come. From 2019 on, he has always finished in the top three in the driver standings, a huge improvement from the previous years.
Verstappen started winning more races and people saw the raw talent that he possessed. Jenson Button called the Dutchman “the most naturally talented driver he has ever seen.”
Winning streak
In 2021, Verstappen got a new teammate in Sergio Pérez. The first second Red Bull to win a race since Daniel Ricciardo left in 2018. Having a competitive teammate brought back the fighting spirit at the team. Verstappen had someone to help him in races. The most notable moment was in Abu Dhabi that year. “Checo is a legend,” said the Dutchman after Pérez backed up Hamilton to give Verstappen the chance to attack the Brit.
Even though it was a controversial conclusion to an exciting season, Verstappen became World Champion. He had shown the world his racecraft, and that he was able to outperform the car. Red Bull hadn’t built the best car on the grid, but that clearly didn’t stop the Dutchman.
In 2022, 2023 and 2024, Super Max dominated F1. He finished seconds ahead of his closest competitors in many races, making the title fight a lot less exciting, but surely more enjoyable for Verstappen. He broke dozens of records, like winning the most consecutive races (10) and winning races from the most different starting positions.
Fallbacks
Of course, Verstappen still has his moments, especially when the tension rises. In 2021, the year he won his maiden title, he became more aggressive to hold onto that first position. Incidents like Monza, where he ended both his and Lewis Hamilton’s race, and Saudi Arabia, where he brake-checked the Brit come up as key examples. But also in Barcelona in 2025, where he drove into George Russell out of frustration.
End of an era
In 2025, the Red Bull dominance era ended. McLaren had built a fast car, and it was always an unfair fight with two papayas and only one Red Bull at the front. Even though Verstappen turned the season around after the summer break, he ended two points short of the title.
In 2026, it doesn’t quite look like Verstappen will be fighting for the title yet, but we have seen that he can overcome a big gap in points. In the meantime, he has picked up other hobbies, like sim racing and GT3. He is open about the possibility of leaving F1 and pursuing other challenges. He wants to compete in LeMans and, maybe one day, he’ll become the second driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport.
Super Max
In his 214 race starts with Red Bull, Verstappen secured 48 pole positions, 127 podiums and 71 wins. He is only 13 wins away from the record of most wins with a single constructor. There have been some ups and downs, but it is safe to say Christian Horner made the right bet to put Verstappen in the Red Bull that day in Spain.
What is your favourite Max Verstappen moment? Share it in the comments.
Edited by Marit Everett
