The Red Bull principal, Christian Horner, believes Max Verstappen is the driver most likely to challenge Lewis Hamilton for the Formula One world championship this year.
Horner is bullish about his team’s chances but reckons Hamilton, who will be aiming for a seventh world crown, will remain with Mercedes rather than switch to Ferrari at the end of the season.
Verstappen, 22 but entering his sixth F1 season, is convinced he is ready to take the fight to the British driver. Red Bull have not properly challenged Hamilton’s dominant Mercedes team since the turbo‑hybrid era began.
However, with the regulations stable, Horner is confident that if Red Bull deliver on their car his Dutch driver can be a threat.
“Max’s wheel-to-wheel race craft is second to none. The only person I have seen Lewis make mistakes around is Max. Max is the coming man,” Horner said. “He is 22 and on the ascendancy. Lewis is 35. It is inevitable in any sport there is always another generation coming and, with Max and [Ferrari’s] Charles Leclerc, it is set for a really thrilling year. Of course Lewis also has all that experience and all those years of know-how. I think it is going to be a classic.”
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Last year Verstappen won three races and finished third in the drivers’ standings. Red Bull improved as the season progressed, as did their Honda engine, Verstappen closing out with four podiums from the final seven races. Expectations are high at Red Bull that they will start in their strongest position since 2014.
“We want to be the team that puts a charge together,” Horner said. “They still go into this championship as favourites but it would be phenomenal if we had a three-way battle between ourselves, Lewis, Charles and even Sebastian [Vettel], that would be fantastic for the sport and the fans, a stellar year.”
Hamilton was explicit last year that he gave Verstappen room on track, given the Dutchman’s propensity for aggressive manoeuvres, which Horner insisted is one of Verstappen’s assets. “Any driver knows that Max will have a go,” he said. “He is aggressive but he is also calculating in that aggression.
“We didn’t see many incidents last year at all. Even in Monaco he was still prepared to have a go, he wasn’t prepared to sit and settle for second place. It’s not in his DNA: his modus operandi is absolutely flat out and go for it.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes contract is running down and he has been linked with a move to Ferrari but Horner expects him to remain with the team with whom he has won five of his six titles.
“Bernie Ecclestone always used to say drivers want to end their career at Ferrari. I think that might be different in Lewis’s case. He has been unconventional throughout his career. He seems happy in the environment he is in. If it is the most competitive environment why would he want to change that for the sake of driving in a different car?”