How Max Verstappen has now made it harder for Dutch racing talents to reach Formula 1

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Max Verstappen is the most successful Dutch racing driver to compete in Formula 1, and his former boss, Frits van Amersfoort, has detailed how his prosperity has affected up-and-coming Dutch talent.

It took Max Verstappen just one season of racing in junior formula categories before he was given a shot in F1, and he became the youngest ever driver in the sport when he made his debut at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at just 17 years and 166 days old.

The Dutchman immediately displayed the talent of a future world champion and was thrust into the seat of a frontrunning team midway through his sophomore season in 2016.

Verstappen set another record on his Red Bull debut as he became the youngest ever driver to win a Grand Prix. Given the events surrounding his rise to F1, it’s a record that is unlikely to be broken again.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton snubs Max Verstappen when naming the best Formula 1 driver he’s ever raced against

Max Verstappen’s success in F1 has set an unattainable benchmark for young Dutch talent

In a recent interview with RaceXpress, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Van Amersfoort Racing team, Frits van Amersfoort fielded several questions regarding the talents of Verstappen, who spent his only season in Formula 3 with the Dutch outfit.

One of the questions that the Dutch motorsport manager was asked was how he differentiates the big talents in junior racing categories from the average driver, to which he answered, “A, how he comes across, and B, you put him in the car and he goes.

“It’s actually that simple. Because those people obviously have that talent, and that talent comes naturally to the surface.

“If you take drivers from the last 10 years roughly, right, but also from around the turn of the century, we had talents. Christijan Albers, Bas Leinders, Giedo van der Garde, just to name a few.

“There have been countless who were, of course, very talented. Naturally, Max has now set the bar so high. Now, Max is the standard, which does not make it easy for the current drivers, because who can beat him?”

The effect that van Amersfoort alluded to has been present within the garages of the Red Bull F1 team for a number of years now.

No matter who the Austrian constructor has pitted against the Dutchman, he always manages to come out as the superior driver.

Helmut Marko revealed the difference between Verstappen and his Red Bull teammates, citing the four-time world champion’s second-to-none intuition whilst at the seat of F1 machinery.

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Frits van Amersfoort also highlighted how Max Verstappen could race through ‘technical setbacks’

In his praise of Verstappen, van Amersfoort went on to describe him as ‘the best example of enormous success’ from the ladder of single-seater motorsport.

His ability to adapt to any given situation is one of his best traits and can be attributed to Jos Verstappen’s rigorous go-kart training regime.

“We always tried to give Max the best of the best that was within our means,” van Amersfoort continued. “We had good people, good engineers, and then it’s actually a simple addition, and then it’s the driver who has to finish it off.

“Everyone will agree with me. With Max, that was, of course, never a problem. Even with Max, we had quite a few setbacks. Technical setbacks, you name it. But you can overcome those if the talent is there.

“A driver with talent is born, and a driver or an athlete, as we are talking about an athlete with talent, will always make it. You might need to refine that a bit, but that’s it. Someone without talent comes from the saying of pulling a dead horse.”