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Max Verstappen didn’t make many friends on the grid during his opening years in F1, but Toto Wolff has always been on his side, despite the fierce rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull.
Joining the grid in the midst of Nico Rosberg’s heated feud with Lewis Hamilton within the confines of the Mercedes F1 team, Max Verstappen proved to be a thorn in the side of the German driver during his final year of racing.
In fact, Verstappen worried Rosberg so much in the 2016 title-decider that the eventual world champion’s leg started ‘vibrating’ in fear during the closing laps in Abu Dhabi.
The aggressive driving style of the Dutchman in his first few campaigns would often rub his on-track rivals the wrong way and caught the attention of the stewards quite regularly as well.
However, the talent that he possessed was as clear as day, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was aware of it well before he had even gotten into the cockpit of an F1 car.
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Toto Wolff defended Max Verstappen from Nico Rosberg’s ‘narcissist’ accusation in a 2019 interview
In a chat between Wolff and Rosberg on the latter’s podcast in 2019, they were discussing the mentality of F1 drivers before the 2016 world champion used Verstappen as an example.
He said, “If you look at Verstappen now, for example, he’s like a narcissist, because how can you not question yourself if you do six times the same mistake and on the seventh time you still do the same thing?”
After a moment of deliberation, Wolff countered his former driver’s opinion with, “With Verstappen, it’s different because there is a part in his life that we don’t see, and that’s the relationship to his father.
“I think that Jos is giving his son direct feedback, and I don’t think he’s holding back. Max’s behaviour is self-confident in a way that you would even see as overconfident, but you must not forget that he’s very young.”
After going on to explain an incident involving the Red Bull driver and Valtteri Bottas at the 2018 Italian GP, Wolff added, “I think there is a certain degree of super confidence that helps you in your ability to drive.
“But I think the older he gets, the more he matures and grows. That angle, he’s going to get that angle under control. If you think back to how you were at 19 or 20, I know how I was.
“I wouldn’t have been able to cross the road here without risking an accident. I think that’s a different story. You need to consider the age.”
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Toto Wolff’s assessment of Max Verstappen’s behaviour has turned out to be spot on
The development of Verstappen through the years has been a sight to behold.
From his very first race as a wide-eyed 17-year-old to becoming a four-time world champion has seen a young teenager transform into one of the greatest drivers in the sport’s history.
While there are some hints that Verstappen’s aggression from his early days is still there, he is widely regarded as one of, if not the, most composed and calculated drivers on the grid.
The fact that the Dutchman is heading into his 12th season as an F1 driver despite being just 28-years-old is a startling statistic, and shows how well Verstappen has matured during his tenure in the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport.
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