Max Verstappen has F1 rivals running scared as he chases third world title

M ax Verstappen, confident and at ease, his innate ability fused with judgment and maturity, could not enter the new season in better form. With a Red Bull car that looks formidable it might be considered that the only real threat to Verstappen is Verstappen himself, but of such a fragility there is no sign. Indeed it is dismissed by the people that matter in the paddock – the drivers themselves.

As Formula One’s defending world champion opens his challenge to take a third consecutive title in Bahrain this weekend there is an overwhelming sense that he will not exhibit one iota of weakness, overconfidence or lack of focus because of his remarkable success last year. If anything the men who must compete against him warn he is only growing stronger, among them Lewis Hamilton, well-placed to recognise a champion’s traits.

Last season the 25-year-old Dutchman romped to the title with four races remaining. He won 15 of the 22 meetings and was largely untouchable. Even if Charles Leclerc and Ferrari’s challenge had not petered out, it is doubtful Verstappen could have been denied.

It was a consummate display of how far the driver has come since he made his debut at 17 in 2015 – the impetuousness, poor decision-making, overaggressiveness and a somewhat all-or-nothing approach that earned him the “Mad Max” moniker was nowhere to be seen. Verstappen executed with a relentless, clinical precision, a distinctive hallmark of the great drivers and notably multiple world champions, particularly the two most successful of the modern era, Michael Schumacher and Hamilton.

There are 23 races this season, beginning here in Bahrain and ending in Abu Dhabi in December. It will be a long road to the championship but Verstappen goes in as