Red Bull: "No risk, no fun" attitude foundation for Verstappen F1 success

Verstappen ended Mercedes’ title dominance of F1’s turbo hybrid era last year, when he clinched the drivers’ title after a last-lap overtaking move on Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It marked the culmination of many years of conviction from Red Bull about Verstappen’s talent, as it was convinced from early on that he had the talent needed to be champion.

And, with Red Bull coincidentally having been vying with Mercedes to sign Verstappen in his junior career, its motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has hailed the different attitude the energy drinks company took to the situation.

Speaking in a Dutch book Formula Max which has been published by Autosport's colleagues from the Dutch Motorsport.com site, Marko said Red Bull approached things in a way Mercedes could not.

“Of course we knew that Max was talking to Mercedes as well, but with Mercedes he wouldn't have come to Formula 1 so quickly,” said Marko about that period when his team and its German manufacturer rival were both speaking to Verstappen.

“They don't take those risks with a newcomer. But my plan to sign him and put him into Formula 1 straight away wasn't to outdo Mercedes. It was simply because I saw that he was ready for Formula 1 and that turned out to be the case.

“I would say in general: Red Bull is different compared to Mercedes, we have much more of a 'no risk, no fun' mentality.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Erik Junius

While promoting Verstappen to F1 when he was aged 17 drew criticism at the time, Marko said Red Bull never doubted that it made the right decision.

“The criticism was to be expected, but in all honesty it was a calculated risk,” he said. “We gave Max all the appropriate tests at Toro Rosso within the