Verstappen engineer labels 'turning point' that led to championship success

When Max Verstappen arrived in Formula 1 during the 2015 season, hewas heralded as the next big thing for Red Bull having made theunprecedented move from Formula 3. A debut win for the team in 2016was followed up with brilliant drives in the rain at Brazil, andwins later in Malaysia and Mexico in 2017. Although these earlymoments of success showed what Verstappen was capable of, long-timeengineer Gianpiero Lambiase recalled the period in 2018 when theDutchman went through a "turning point" in his F1 career.Verstappen had retired from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after acollision with teammate Daniel Ricciardo, while he also crashed outof qualifying for the Monaco GP when it looked like he was oncourse to challenge for a front row spot. "Working closely withhim, there's been two stages in his development," said Lambiase inan interview chronicling Verstappen's rise to becoming a three-timeF1 World Champion. "The first one was in early 2018, where we had afairly rough ride in the first six or seven races. "We couldn't doanything but crash into something or somebody I think that year,there was a turning point where he realised he needed to change orthings are going in the wrong direction. "From the midseasononwards, he was in really competitive against Daniel for the restof that year." Lambiase: That ultimately is what won him thechampionship Lambiase recalls how Verstappen's focus on hisconsistency through the 2018 season was a key part in his growth asa driver. This experience ultimately enabled him to take 19victories out of 22 races at the wheel of the RB19 this year,putting together one of the most dominant F1 season's of all time."The second one was a build up from 2018 and is actually startingto learn that you needed to be at the checkered flag if youactually wanted to start competing for a championship," saidLambiase. "I think that penny sunk through 2020 when the car wasn'tquite as competitive as it was the following year. So he couldn'tmount a championship challenge per se, but he was ultra consistent."Then in 2021, I think that ultimately is what won him thechampionship, his level of consistency." Check out Red Bull'sentire look back at eight years of Verstappen below.NBto2iPKc_A?si=R_jW51dEuDHMl278