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Max Verstappen has proved this year he is an even better driver than people realised before, says his team principal Laurent Mekies.
The four-times world champion has a chance to win a fifth consecutive title this weekend despite having fallen 104 points off the lead at one stage in the season. Outside F1 he has also become a father and won on his debut in a GT3 race on the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
“Whether or not Max will win [the championship], it’s probably fair to say that the world discovered an even more extraordinary Max this season, after his fourth world title,” he said.
“A bit because of the magnitude of the comeback. A bit because, he has been so relaxed, so well-seated in the team. Embracing so much that challenge with the right spirit.
“A bit also because we have seen him racing elsewhere. I think it has all taken a part of our heart when we have seen him spending his free weekends being a new dad, racing in GT cars around the world.”
Mekies believes Verstappen’s comeback is already an incredible achievement even if he doesn’t win the title. “In terms of whatever happens next, the scale of the comeback is something that hopefully will go in a few history books.”
Verstappen has impressed the team with how consistently he gets the best out of his car. “This guy never gets it wrong,” said Mekies. “Max just never does a mistake. He keeps surprising us every day.
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“You throw him out there, sometimes the car is great, sometimes it’s a touch less great, [not] like we would hope, and he doesn’t miss a start, he doesn’t miss tyre management, he doesn’t miss an overtake. He is just the way he is.”
The level of performance Verstappen delivers “gives a lot of confidence to the whole team,” Mekies added. “It is true that it fits so well with the general approach this team has on how you go racing — taking maximum risk, accepting the pain when the risk goes over the edge.
“If you think back to the 2,000 people in Milton Keynes that have been doing the magic in the shadows, trying to get that car back to life in the second part of the year — obviously, that creates a great connection, and yes, it gives great confidence.”
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