Max Verstappen is a future world champion and there are few arguments for it.
Ever since he asked his parents to buy him a go-kart at the age of three, his Formula 1 driver father Jos and former kart champion mother Sophie raised him to race. His talent, first in go-karts and then in single-seaters, was visible to everyone.
It was Red Bull who gave him the chance to race in F1 for the first time and he hopes in 2021 he can finally repay the debt of faith they showed a 17-year-old by bringing home a world title Has. And if not this year, then soon another year. Certainly.
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But everything could have been so different. His dominance in karting was easily translated into professional racing car driving, and only a few races in his first season in European Formula 3 gathered the scouts of the big teams.
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His father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen carried calls and texts from almost every top team who vaguely talked about a deal – until after a particularly impressive 2014 weekend in Nuremberg, Dr. Red Bull’s Helmut Marko to Verstappen Sr. early this morning tell him they were ready to sign Max.
They weren’t the only ones, however. Eric Boullier, who joined the McLaren team a few months after joining, was also interested. An engineer by profession, Boullier had headed the Gravity Sport Management driver development program before taking over the helm of Renault and had made his way to the famous Woking team while keeping his helm in racing management.
He’d approached Verstappen when the Dutchman was still at go-karting and befriended Jos, whom he’d met in the early 1990s during the unfortunate A1 Grand Prix series, and had done his best to get his young prodigy to do it Join McLaren.
“Max was the kid to beat and yes, we had a discussion,” says Boullier I wistful.
“In the end it was between Red Bull and us, but Max was wanted by a lot of people.
“But Red Bull obviously had a better argument than we did then – then he joined them and had the success he had.
“I knew Jos very well at the time and we built a friendship, although in the end it was a career choice and I think he made the right one in the end.”
Boullier believed he was reasonably well covered at the time, having signed the promising Frenchman Esteban Ocon for the short-lived Gravity Academy and had an interest in him when he joined the Lotus junior team. Ocon had struggled with Verstappen and actually beat Verstappen in the Dutchman’s only season in the junior formula before Red Bull quickly brought him into Formula 1.
Ocon’s own path was a little quieter. He worked as a Lotus, later Renault, test driver before driving for Manor and Force India and then driving back to Renault (renamed Alpine this season). His accomplishments for Mercedes-powered Manor and Force India seemed to result in his being anointed as the heir to Mercedes-Benz propulsion.
While that succession plan seemed to be fading in the heat of George Russell’s creation, Boullier still believes Ocon will have the chance to drive for Mercedes one day.
“Mercedes has plans for the drivers who are there and Esteban has some plans with Renault and George Russell is coming,” added Boullier.
“If Mercedes has to change both drivers, Esteban might have a place there, but each driver has their own career plan and it’s better to be in a Renault car * and * in the Mercedes family than not.”
Personal feelings aside, Boullier, General Manager of the French Grand Prix, has a professional interest in Ocon, who was born in the Norman town of Evreux and is successful in Formula 1.
“Part of the success of a Grand Prix is having French drivers,” says Boullier.
“But the support of a car manufacturer like Renault / Alpine is also the key to the success of a race and the success of F1 in France.”
Last year should have been Boullier’s first race to be responsible for the resurgent French race that didn’t take place for a decade between 2008 and 2018.
However, the pandemic made her summer date impossible. Boullier, who has hired and fired drivers, engineers and mechanics throughout his career, had to make another difficult decision.
“I still remember the moment when I had to press the button on my computer and send this confirmation email [to postpone the race]. It took me a few moments to press it – but we had to be realistic, ”he adds.
“It was in a way necessary with the hygienic conditions and the restrictions. At the time it was unclear what was going to happen, but what happened after that confirmed that we had to do it.
“In motorsport you have to make difficult decisions all the time, but that was one of those where you don’t notice the effects. A Grand Prix is the top event in a country these days and there is a lot of attention and a lot of time, a lot of people who love Formula 1 and want to see the racing cars themselves – and of course a lot of people work for the Grand Prix.
“The F1 community also because you are part of their calendar, their expectation. Again, in April last year, no one expected to have a second wave, a third wave, a second lockdown – so it was the right decision. “
This year’s race is scheduled for June 27th. A French winner may ask too much, but most of France will settle for just one race.
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