“Lando Norris tried to play Max Verstappen at his own game, the problem is that he doesn’t know the rules of that game.” – David Coulthard
Max Verstappen was born on September 30th, 1997, to his father, Jos Verstappen, and his mother, Sophie Kumpen. Both of his parents were drivers and had experience in racing, but Max wasn’t asked if he wanted to race as well. His father trained him to the absolute limit, even leaving a young Max at a gas station after he had lost a simple karting race. He wasn’t born with talent; he made his own destiny. Now 28 years old, Max Verstappen is the reigning four-time Formula One Champion. Yet nothing seemed to last forever.
After the summer break, a fifth title for the reigning world champion seemed to be only a dream, but now only 12 points stand between Max Verstappen and another championship.
The Dutchman’s performance at the start of the season seemed poor, the strategy horrendous, and the car slower than ever. Everyone crossed Verstappen out of championship contention, and everyone believed it would either be Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris who’d hold the trophy. Who could blame them? Redbull as a whole was dealing with issues, mainly Liam Lawson, and had to replace him with a more experienced driver, Yuki Tsunoda. On top of the driver switch, the car itself was nothing compared to McLaren’s design that swept almost all of the Grand Prix wins, split between Norris and Piastri. Verstappen was 104 points behind former leader Piastri after his home race, the Dutch Grand Prix. Yet, something changed, and after the summer break, Verstappen turned on the engine.
Right out the gate, Verstappen won in Monza at the Italian Grand Prix, nothing crazy at first. It seemed McLaren had nothing to worry about, but then Verstappen won in Azerbaijan. Even then, McLaren would go on to win the Constructors’ Championship at the Singapore Grand Prix. Max responded by winning at Austin in the United States Grand Prix in a stellar performance. However, disaster struck in São Paolo as Verstappen was eliminated in qualifying, meaning he would start at the pit lane. Verstappen then did something that only he could pull off: end up on the podium in 3rd. The entire Formula One community was stunned, so Verstappen answered by winning in Vegas. McLaren? Both Piastri and Norris were disqualified for violating the FIA car regulations.
It all seemed to come down to Qatar; all Lando Norris needed was to outscore Verstappen and Piastri, and he would’ve won it. But like the white rabbit, “All roads lead to Rome”.
Max won the Qatar Grand Prix.
Just as he once said, “Maybe God is with him, but he is not God” in 2020 about Lewis Hamilton, he’s shown the same mentality now.
It all comes down to the last race, Abu Dhabi. Simply Lovely.
