Max Verstappen is the latest Formula One champion. He won his first title in dramatic fashion to cap off an unbelievable season. Admittedly, for most of his career, the Dutchman always had the talent but could not challenge because of the car. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko reveals that the calm approach by the young driver impressed him in 2021.

Marko mentioned that Verstappen has matured a lot from his volatile younger years. He also believes that Max was very well trained by his father, Jos Verstappen, in his younger years.

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Max Verstappen has clearly matured: Helmut Marko

The calm approach and the eyes on the bigger picture throughout the 2021 season served the Dutch driver really well in his fight against Lewis Hamilton. Marko mentioned that despite his young age, Verstappen has matured a lot.

“Don’t forget, he’s still only 24. Max has clearly matured. That also has a bit to do with the cord being cut because he was trained and shaped very well by his father [Jos). The relationship is still very close, but Max has his own opinions today,” said Marko.

“This maturation process was sometimes not so visible from the outside, but it quickly reached a peak because when something didn’t go right in training, he always exploded. Today he is calm. We had technical problems a couple of times. Now he just sees the whole thing,” said the Red Bull advisor.

It would be interesting to see how Max Verstappen grows from here. As he has previously stated, his goal in F1 was to become a world champion. Now that he has achieved his goal, as he mentions, everything is a bonus. If he continues his calm approach for the rest of his career, then he might be in contention to become one of the greatest drivers in F1 history.

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