IS MAX VERSTAPPEN READY TO WIN THE ULTIMATE F1 PRIZE?

The Zoom ID suddenly changes. There’s to be no doubt whose time and attention is coming Autosport’s way. A few minutes past the agreed start point – this is a Formula 1 driver’s time and attention, after all – the camera comes back on. It’s still Red Bull’s press attache in view, but then our perspective turns.

Here’s Max Verstappen. He’s sitting in the spartanly decorated room that will be his driver’s quarters over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend – over his shoulder, halfway through our chat, his father Jos will appear through the door and peer intently at the screen into which his son is communicating. Media engagements are part of the motorsport game, but this one feels palpably different. Throughout, there’s a sense of mixed excitement, potential, even destiny – appropriate given Verstappen’s rapid career rise, even if the term is a touch cliched.

Such is the way of things now that we’re speaking to Verstappen online – the only way to get real long-form time with F1 drivers within the COVID-19 restrictions. But it’s the timing that’s the important difference. We’re speaking just as the Bahrain GP pre-event media day is getting under way, so no one knows for sure how the 2021 pecking order will shape up. But the testing formbook – as the rest of the weekend’s events make clear – is accurate. Red Bull has F1’s fastest car.

That’s the different feeling. And it comes from every corner of the team. Only a month ago, Christian Horner was telling Autosport that his squad would “not give up in our hunt for a fifth title” – a quiet confidence made clear. Now it’s Verstappen’s turn. And because of the different aura surrounding Red Bull in 2021, the question topics reflect his season’s growing