Max Verstappen quickest in first practice, read the breaking headlines from Monza. Well he is in a field of one. The tendency is to rail at how dull the spectacle has become under the Verstappen cosh.
Nine wins on the spin, 11 victories out of 13 races, a third successive title possibly just three weeks away if he continues to bludgeon the field. It could be worse, he could be flouncing about the paddock like a Ronaldo in overalls, a self-obsessed Insta peacock screaming me, me, me.
Verstappen is better than that. He turns up, does his work, wins, then retreats into his own space to play on the sim in virtual combat with any who fancies a race. This approach has won the approval of his contemporaries, particularly double world champion Fernando Alonso, who is made of similar stuff and from the safe distance of a non-competitive car has been generous in his appraisal.
Others, too. Pierre Gasly has none of Alonso’s depth or star quality, but nevertheless offers a telling insight into the experience of racing on the same pitch as a driver who might end his career travelling GOAT class.
“You’ve got to appreciate what he does because he doesn’t do any mistakes,” said Gasly, who finished third behind Verstappen and Alonso in Zandvoort.
“Even last weekend you can have the faster car and have a lock-up and go straight and miss it. I think he’s been very mature in the way that he’s taken risks when they were there. And you can see it.
“There were times on the wet he wasn’t pulling away from the others. You know he is faster, he could be faster, but you just know he’s got it under control, and he knows when he can give away three-tenths and then not take too many risks, and then really push when things are more stable. So he is very complete and very mature in the way that he approaches it.”
Michael Schumacher spent a career in Verstappen’s lane, racing against the clock as opposed to a teammate capable of finding his chin. His teammates at Ferrari, at the turn of the century, Eddie Irvine and then Rubens Barrichello, were not mugs. They understood that Schumacher was favoured. They also acknowledged, however reluctantly in the case of Barrichello, that Schumacher was a different species of alpha.
Ross Brawn, the pit wall general who presided over Schumacher’s seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari, would marvel at his ability to bang in a couple of super quick laps in clean air around pit stops to execute the under or over-cut, or simply extend his lead. It was this metronomic consistency, his capacity to go quicker on demand that Brawn believed set Schumacher apart. Gasly was articulating the same quality in Verstappen.
It would be better for him, and us, were Verstappen faced with an adversary worthy of him, as he was in 2021 when he traded wins with Lewis Hamilton all the way to that controversial finale in Abu Dhabi. We forget, perhaps, how epic a duel that was, a contest worthy of Senna and Prost, of Mansell and Piquet, Hill and Clark.
Hamilton is still there but not in machinery to match the Red Bull. We are left with Sergio Perez against whom to measure Verstappen. If any, it is the Mexican in the same kit who is failing the sport, yet that is a harsh conclusion to draw if we accept Verstappen is a generational talent.
Verstappen is deaf to the criticisms of Red Bull’s dominance. As he might be having been raised by a father who started more than 100 races in Formula One, harvesting just 17 points never mind a win. A couple of podiums in a Benetton at Hungary and Belgium in 1994 were as good as it would get for Jos, whose experience ultimately shaped the career of his son.
Verstappen Sr, an understudy to Schumacher and Johnny Herbert at Benetton, knew how hard it was to succeed, what it took to give talent a chance to rise.
From his earliest exposure to racing in karts young Max was being schooled for success. He feels nil compunction to apologise now for fulfilling his part of the bargain. He spent enough time watching Hamilton shape the world in his image to feel guilty about dining on low hanging fruit in this phase of his career cycle.
How all this looks is for other to worry about. And don’t expect him to feel bad about winning the next nine races, were that to be his fate over the coming months. When his time is over the ledger will care nothing for sentiment. The numbers will speak their own truth free of emotion and bias.