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From go-karts to F1 world champion: inside the rapid rise of Max Verstappen
Get the back story on the Red Bull Racing Honda star's ascension to Formula One's summit in the latest instalment of the Beyond the Ordinary podcast series.
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Given the way Max Verstappen has blazed a trial across Formula One in just seven short years, his rise to the summit – and the chance to become a world champion – seemed not only likely, but inevitable.
But like this? Reaching the top of the mountain with an overtake of the sport's most successful driver driving for a team in a period of unprecedented dominance on the last lap of the last race of the year? Surely not? But this is Max Verstappen, and that was the outcome of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in early December, a 10th win for the Red Bull Racing Honda phenomenon in this season of seasons – and one that annexed the biggest prize of all.
Listen to The Making of a Champion: Max Verstappen on Beyond the Ordinary:
From the moment he became the youngest driver ever to win in Formula One – on debut for Red Bull Racing in Spain in 2016 – Verstappen has been his sport's brightest light, routinely redefining what can be achieved, and how rapidly, in the world's most unforgiving motorsport category.
An F1 winner at 18, Verstappen took multiple race victories every year following that Barcelona breakthrough but had to content himself with being an occasional stone in the shoe of reigning Hamilton and Mercedes, who won title after title despite the Dutchman's starring cameos. Until now.
But who is Verstappen and how did he get to this moment? The answers – courtesy of drivers, teammates, journalists, fans, those closest to him and Max himself – come in The Making of a Champion: Max Verstappen, the latest instalment of Red Bull's Beyond the Ordinary podcast series.
Verstappen's dream came alive under night skies at Yas Marina
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Life has been a whirlwind for Verstappen since he took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, the realisation of a life's ambition sinking in, the intensity of a season-long fight for the ages with Hamilton leaving him elated, fulfilled, and struggling to process the magnitude of his achievement.
"To become world champion was of course my final goal in Formula One – everything else that happens now is just a bonus," he says.
"It was an insane season in general, and you couldn’t have written it crazier for that final race. It pretty much just summed up the whole season.
"Everyone is screaming on the radio, everyone is super-emotional, not thinking it would happen initially … I was crying on the in-lap, there's no hiding that, it was just insane. The stress of the whole season, the battle … it couldn't have been more dramatic."
Max and dad Jos shared a special moment in Abu Dhabi
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
'Dramatic' is one adjective that aptly describes Verstappen's near-vertical career arc, one that owes itself to a potent mixture of impeccable bloodlines, undeniable talent, a ferociously competitive nature, unshakeable belief and dogged work ethic.
From driving quad bikes at the age of two, go-karts at four and racing – and winning – at age seven, success in motorsport felt preordained.
It's a career trajectory that surprises few who raced against him in his formative years, such as current F1 rival and long-time friend, Pierre Gasly of Scuderia AlphaTauri.
"We grew up racing together in karting, we had a couple of fights on track, but it was always at the top, the fast kid that you want to beat," says Gasly.
"He's just a great competitor. He's very dedicated towards the goal we all have in common."
Verstappen won on debut for Red Bull in Spain in 2016
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
It's that hunger for competition that thrust Verstappen into a starring role in an F1 season that simply fizzed with electricity.
"2021 has been a fantastic season for Formula One," says 13-time F1 race-winner David Coulthard.
"This is a classic period of Formula One. When we've had these titanic battles in the past, they might come along once a decade or once every 20 years, but when it happens it's a wonderful thing to be able to witness two greats go toe-to-toe."
The Making of a Champion: Max Verstappen details the Dutch driver's rise from karting prodigy to competing in his first F1 practice session at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix for Scuderia Toro Rosso – just one week after his 17th birthday. Soon after, things really took off, with top-three finishing positions in the world championship coming in 2019 and 2020. And then came 2021 and the grandest prize of all – one achieved in his typically authentic and unwavering style.
Former Red Bull Racing Honda driver and junior rival Alex Albon wasn't surprised in the slightest that Max's approach never changed as the stakes were raised.
"There are times when it's time for qualifying, I was getting ready looking at data and he's playing FIFA or playing Call of Duty," Albon laughs.
"I admire it! I wish I could be that relaxed."
The fans came out in force at Zandvoort, and their hero didn't disappoint
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The Making of a Champion: Max Verstappen details what Verstappen has achieved and how he's achieved it – and, for excited F1 fans the world over, it provides an insight into what he might do next.
"He's a driver that you don't want to take your eyes off when he goes out on track," says Coulthard.
"You know he's going to do something special."
Listen to The Making of a Champion: Max Verstappen on Beyond the Ordinary from Red Bull, available on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Order the Max Verstappen Hero Edition of The Red Bulletin here
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