Red Bull: “We were afraid that Niki Lauda would bring Verstappen to Mercedes”

But Red Bull’s reaction was immediate. The Austrian company have been keeping a close eye on Max Verstappen’s progress and when it became clear at Spa he was a very special driver, they rushed to secure him on a long-term basis – poaching him from Mercedes at the last minute.

In autumn, at the race of the Formula 3 European Championship in Spa, Belgium, changeable weather conditions prevailed. Max Verstappen was only in his first season with Van Amersfoort Racing, having made the unimaginable leap from karting to F3 last winter.

“The track kept changing between dry and wet” explained the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull’s consultant and responsible for the development of new drivers, Helmut Marko. “He kept throwing rounds at the others. He was two seconds per lap faster than everyone else. Where others braked, he shifted up a gear.

We spoke to Verstappen, but then Gerhard Berger became aware of Lauda for Mercedes. Nicky was immediately mobilized. We then made him an offer directly at the (F3) race in Spielberg and told him that he had to make a decision quickly.”

Six weeks after this Spa race, Max Verstappen had signed a multi-year contract with Red Bull. And right after that he did his first free tests in F1 with Toro Rosso at the Japanese GP that same year. A few months later, Max Verstappen – also with Toro Rosso – became the youngest driver to start a Formula 1 GP, aged 17 years and 166 days

14 months later he would be promoted to the ‘big’ Red Bull Racing team, replacing Daniil Kvyat and taking it on his debut to win the 2016 Spanish GP – after the two Mercedes were abandoned due to the crash of Lewis Hamilton with Nico Rosberg. At the age of 18 years and 228 days he became – and remains – the youngest GP winner in F1 history.

“Kvyat was faster than Ricciardo in 2015 in his first year at Red Bull. In the second year, from the first day of testing, he got the idea that there was a problem with the brakes. First he lost some speed, then he had accidents. Suddenly you felt the uncertainty. We had to react.” Marko explained about Verstappen’s replacement of Kvyat at RBR in the middle of the 2016 season.

The decision, the Austrian continued, also contributes to the intensifying rivalry that exists at Toro Rosso between Verstappen and Carlos Sainz – but also their fathers. “We had Sainz and Verstappen in the team at the same time. This was not a healthy relationship with Toro Rosso.

On one side was the astute politician Carlos Sainz Sr., on the other the effervescent Jos Verstappen. Sometimes there were extremes. With the promotion of Max, we solved the problem in one bold move.

Father Saint was offended to death, of course, and suddenly he didn’t seem to understand the world. Internally, we sometimes had to deal with some difficult decisions, even when outwardly everything seemed to be going smoothly.” Marco closed.