Verstappen praises Red Bull junior set-up: 'Dare to stick their neck out'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
With the continuation of his title battle with Lewis Hamilton on the horizon, Max Verstappen takes a moment to look back at the road that brought him to the premier class of motorsport, and in particular the Red Bull junior programme. According to the Dutchman, the programme is so successful because it dares to take more risks than the competition.
"Everyone may think their bit about it, about the Red Bull programme, but at the end of the day it does bring the most drivers into Formula 1", the driver stated in conversation with the Dutch Telegraaf. With the return of Alexander Albon, seven of the twenty drivers on the grid in 2022 will come from the Red Bull programme.
Verstappen continued: "They dare to stick their necks out. Other teams are often more cautious. Red Bull sometimes throws someone in at the deep end. Okay, that doesn't always work, but they're not afraid to give young drivers a chance. That's something important, though."
Retrieved
Looking back at his own time as a junior driver, Verstappen states that he was not scouted by Red Bull as more by his father, whose raising of the Dutchman into a world-class racer is now widely known. "I had my dad as a training program, haha," Verstappen jokes. "After that, in Formula 1, that's taken over, so to speak. We've been working together for so long. I'm happy it's running well this year and we can compete for the title."