Verstappen impresses Newey: 'Concentrates on what's important'

Adrian Newey has worked with many greats in his Formula 1 career. He designed the winning cars for Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen and Sebastian Vettel. Now, however, he is working with Max Verstappen, and he is lyrical about it.

Verstappen as champion

Newey switched from McLaren to Red Bull Racing in 2006. At that time, Red Bull was a new team, where Newey left a top team like McLaren. However, the Briton would prove to be an important link in Red Bull Racing's success. After four world titles with Sebastian Vettel, Newey is now chasing titles with Verstappen.

''He has the same steely grit that any world champion needs to dig in and keep going in the face of adversity. If things go wrong he can put that behind him and look forward to the next one. His driving ability is obviously superb, his ability to live with a neutral car where the rear end moves around a little bit, is exceptional,'' Newey said opposite The Race.

''And he’s matured into a great racer. He’s really not made any mistakes this year. If you include Hungary, which was semi-effectively a DNF, then he’s had three DNFs through no fault of his own. But he’s kept his head and bounced back from all of those.''

Newey praising Max

''His natural speed is very clear. His feedback is very good. I’ve seen it all in terms of driver feedback which is a huge variable, you get some drivers who talk endlessly and start with the first stage of entry into Turn 1 finishing at the last stage of exit of Turn 20. I’ve fallen asleep by then, I’ve lost concentration. Whereas Max has got a very good balance of concentrating on the key parts he needs to make the car fast," says the top designer.

Newey also talks easily with Max about other things than the car. ''He’s very easy to chat to. He’s got a range of interests, which I think is very important for an F1 driver. If your only interest is F1, that can almost make it too important when the pressure comes on. Max has a very good balance in that sense,'' the Red Bull Racing designer concludes.