Verstappen coming: 'Fought with lesser cars in the last six years'

Max Verstappen has a serious chance of winning the world title this season with Red Bull Racing. The Dutch driver is still better than Lewis Hamilton, who is 18 points behind with his Mercedes. However, the teams still have plenty of races to go.

Verstappen was part of Red Bull's junior team from August 2014 and subsequently developed at lightning speed. As a result, he made his Formula One debut as early as March 2015, immediately receiving rave reviews for his talents. Via Torro Rosso, he soon joined Red Bull Racing.

Helmut Marko remembers well when he saw Verstappen race for the first time. "That was at the Norisring, where he outperformed the competition in a race with highly variable conditions," the advisor, who has seen Verstappen make great strides in recent years, told Kronen Zeitung. "He performs with ease when others are long at or over their limit. When he gets out of the car, he doesn't even sweat. For 23 years old, he has incredible maturity."

According to Marko, the showpiece of the junior programme is still four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. "But Max is coming. He has been fighting with lesser cars for the last six years because of the engine. Now we are on par with Mercedes."