Marco: Verstappen hasn't reached his peak yet

Helmut Marko, head of the Red Bull drivers' program, believes Max Verstappen will be stronger after winning his first championship.

In this season, which will be remembered as the greatest F1 season of all time, Verstappen stood at the top of the table, winning the world title from Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of his Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Considering this is Verstappen's seventh season in F1, he is now a veteran, although he is only 24 years old. But Marco also doesn't believe Verstappen has reached his peak as an F1 driver.

Marco said: "As a driver I believe he has not yet reached his peak and we saw his qualifying performance in the last two races in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi and his qualifying ability far exceeded the performance of the car. That's why we think we haven't seen Max Verstappen's peak yet. The more he wins, the more relaxed he becomes. ”

Verstappen first appeared on F1 at the age of 17 when he practiced freely for Toro Rosso at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. The following season he secured a full-time spot with Toro Rosso before being promoted to Toro Rosso in early 2016 and winning the Spanish Grand Prix in his debut for Red Bull.

Marco first discovered Verstappen in F3 at the age of 15 and was impressed with the Dutchman's "rapid" learning and development.

Marko said: "The first serious discussion I had with him was when he was 15 and I saw him in an F3 game and he was better than anyone. The environment was half dry and half wet, and after winning a big victory on this kind of field, I had a discussion with him for almost two hours, usually I only talked to a young man for 20 minutes, and I was amazed at what a mature person was in a very young body, who had the determination or will to win, who knew what he wanted to do. We were talking about the future and so on, and two or three weeks later we said 'forget all the other junior events, we go straight to F1'.

He learns quickly, he's very emotional, he's getting more and more able to control his emotions. He may have been stubborn, but he matured and did not lose his very strong character. He's pretty strong and he's getting stronger. He goes his own way, he doesn't look left and right, he's not distracted by the media, and it's great to see such a young man so focused on doing an amazing job.

The first championship season is over and I'm sure it won't be the last and we'll be fighting for the next championship. ”