Max Verstappen has 'always been a boss' but has room to progress on technique says ex-Red Bull chief
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Updated 10/11/2022 at 14:52 GMT
It's rare that Max Verstappen is second-best at anything in F1, but according to the ex-head of race engineering from his Red Bull team, he is not the "most complete" driver to have come into the British team. That accolade, according to Guillaume Rocquelin, goes to Sebastian Vettel, who won four world titles between 2010 and 2013. Rocquelin also said Verstappen has room to progress.
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Max Verstappen has "always been a boss", but was less of a complete driver than Sebastian Vettel when arriving in F1, according to Guillaume Rocquelin, Red Bull's ex-head of race engineering.
Rocquelin also assessed how Verstappen, who wrapped up his second world title recently, compared on a technical level to other drivers that have passed through the Red Bull stable, and said he "still has a lot of progress to make".
That said, Rocquelin - who held his head of race engineering role between 2015 and 2022 - lauded Verstappen for being "a boss" and maturing this year to dominate the rest of the F1 field, winning a record 14 races with two still left to go.
, Rocquelin said: "I think Sebastian was a more complete driver than Max when he arrived with us. At the professional level, technique, mediation...he was trained at the [Michael] Schumacher 'school', who was his idol.
"He asked a lot of questions, took a lot of notes and when he arrived with us he was very thorough. It is no coincidence that he won several titles. He was more prepared technically, mentally.
"I think Max maybe had more natural talent, that's what he relied on the most. But Sebastian was the most complete.
"Max has always been a boss. He has enormous self-confidence, he knows what he wants and he is very direct.
"But I'll be honest, Max is weak technically compared to other drivers we've worked with. I think he still has a lot of progress to make.
"He is a leader by his attitude, his results. But I think he can improve from a technical point of view and in the way of developing the car."
Rocquelin expanded on how he felt Verstappen had grown in 2022.
"What struck me the most was that he has somewhat lost this 'desperate hunger' that he had last year," Rocquelin said.
"He has matured. He has gained consistency. Winning the championship has given him a lot of confidence and he drives in a different way.
"We can't necessarily speak of a single trigger. It is something progressive, there were several stages.
"He started F1 very young with great ambition and perhaps not the maturity that went with it. He also started with Toro Rosso, who perhaps had less stature and experience. Then the stages began when he arrived at Red Bull.
"There was more confidence in the team, a good record, he was closer to his goal. He won a race immediately with us, which allowed him to take a step forward. Gradually, he won more races, and developed links with his engineers."
Verstappen, seeking to continue his form at this weekend's Brazilian GP, looks like establishing an era of dominance in F1, provided his Red Bull team can stay ahead of the others in the engineering stakes.
But Rocquelin, now head of Red Bull's driver academy, said the Dutchman's arrival truly came back in 2016, when he won his first race aged just 18.
"He's always had talent," Rocquelin said. "To say that we are starting an era because he is starting to win titles is not necessarily correct. It started when he won his first race with us.
"Then there is also the quality of the car, we hope to continue to win titles. It's up to us to make a car that matches its talent.
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