Max Verstappen helped Red Bull to regain their dominance in the grid after eight long years. From 2014 to 2021, Christian Horner had to suffer because his team was nowhere near the dominant Mercedes team. The Silver Arrows won every title in the turbo-hybrid era except the 2021 Driver’s Championship. That was the turning point as momentum started to shift towards Red Bull’s way. Mercedes could no longer dominate the grid as Red Bull reached another level of hegemony. They won 17 races in 2022.
But this year, they broke many records as they went on to win as many as 21 races. However, no matter how great Max Verstappen is, he’s a bit infamous for being stubborn, selfish, and ruthless. He doesn’t care about what others think about him. But Max is fearless in terms of raising the issues that bother him. It can sometimes even be difficult for his team to handle him. But lately, Christian Horner lauded the race engineer who’s famous for handling Max Verstappen really well.
Red Bull Needs Lambiase To Calm Max Verstappen Down During Race Weekends
Gianpiero Lambiase has a pretty amicable relationship with the Dutch driver. But they can have heated conversations whenever they both get worked up. Recently, in an interview with GP Blog, Christian Horner mentioned Lambiase has taken a bromance to the next level. He has managed the Red Bull champion driver really well. That’s the reason why the Red Bull team boss wants to congratulate the race engineer to put up with a “Grumpy” Max Verstappen at times. Generally, whenever things go wrong, Max Verstappen hits out on the Team radio. In response, Lambiase seems to be always ready with a befitting and crisp reply.
That always seems to humble the three-time champion. These heated conversations have caught the media and fan’s attention lately. But Red Bull believes they need someone like Gianpiero Lambiase to handle these situations calmly, especially during race weekends. Clearly, the 26-year-old Dutchman is not easy to manage and often loses his cool and his patience. Hence, the Red Bull boss understands very well the value of the race engineer. Even Max Verstappen claimed that both of them get along very well. Albeit, sometimes things can take an ugly turn. But they’ve nice camaraderie.
Why Max Is Called “A Real Talent” In F1?
Moreover, the X-factor who made all the difference for Red Bull has been Max Verstappen. Even the rival team boss Toto Wolff, mentioned if the Dutchman wasn’t there in the equation, then the races could have been more competitive. The statement of the Mercedes boss does make sense as Max won 19 of the 21 races Red Bull won this year.
Last year, the Dutch driver won 15 Grand Prix. Verstappen won 34 races in the last two years. That level of dominance will be very hard to replicate for any driver in the future as well. Indeed, the RB19 car was arguably the fastest F1 car ever. But questions can come up regarding why Sergio Perez struggled so much if he drove the same car. That’s why a racer like Max Verstappen does make a huge difference.
