F1 End of Season Report: Rate the Grid - Max Verstappen

Paul Jeffrey · Dec 30, 2017

Mad Max probably had a more disappointing season than the young Dutchman expected in 2017, however did the talented Red Bull man meet our RD community expectations?

When the dust finally settles on the 2017 Formula One season it will perhaps be known as a year of what might have been for Max Verstappen and Red Bull, often showing the now customary blistering pace but never quite stringing together a consistent challenge at the very front of the field. Verstappen has learnt a lot this year, however ending out the season behind his team mate in the final points will no doubt be a painful pill to swallow for the highly competitive young charger, and those lost points weren't always the fault of his Red Bull team...

It is easy to forget how relatively inexperienced Verstappen is in Formula One terms, despite his prodigious pace behind the wheel of the Red Bull car. Without the title fight driver and team expected at the beginning of the year, how do we rate the season just gone for one of Grand Prix racings most exciting talents?

Vote now to tell us how you rate 2017 Formula One season of Max Verstappen, and leave a comment below!

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Terry Rock · Dec 31, 2017

A solid 7.5.
Heart of a lion but with that fragile Renault engine, he spent a lot of time this year watching races from the garage.
One can only imagine what his season would have been with a complete and reliable package.
This kid is going places.

oorjit07 · Dec 31, 2017

Drove well, made less mistakes than last year, and those race in Malaysia and Mexico were flawless. 9.

Maurits Vernel · Dec 31, 2017

Did very well this season. In China and the last six races of the season he demolished Ricciardo, was often quicker than Daniel and has shown that he can dominate weekends if given a working car. The only downside is that he sometimes seemed a tad impatient, most prevalent in Italy when he tried to overtake Massa. But he is only 20 and can only get even better.

snyperal · Dec 31, 2017

If he gets the full package he'll be a champion in no time. I think he's even better than LH now, as he matures... Well who knows how many title's he can win.

XCalinX · Dec 31, 2017

I think he's pretty much the best driver on the grid right now, winning 2 races in a non Mercedes or Ferrari car pretty incredible.
I just hope and pray he leaves Red Bull. They might have Newey and a good chassis but their engine isn't that great and even if Renault produce something amazing next year, their contract expires for 2019 and there's even the chance that they will end up with Honda. If he will ever be in the best car on the grid, he will win the title, even if his teammate is Lewis or Seb.
I hope he doesn't bury his talent by being in **** cars.

jpalesi · Dec 31, 2017

Quite an overrated season for Verstappen, but that's the way hype goes with him. I often read he had so many DNF's to explain how he's behind Ricciardo in the standings, but he only had one more DNF than his team mate, and he finished 32 points behind. He also enjoyed the better reliabilty when the car was stronger at the end of the season.

LeSunTzu · Dec 31, 2017

+1 but he is a super driver nonetheless. His wins were flawless and in Mexico he seemed untouchable.

Sky · Dec 31, 2017

he's good but i don't like him.

which i'll probably also say for a few more drivers to come.

oorjit07 · Dec 31, 2017

jpalesi said:
Quite an overrated season for Verstappen, but that's the way hype goes with him. I often read he had so many DNF's to explain how he's behind Ricciardo in the standings, but he only had one more DNF than his team mate, and he finished 32 points behind. He also enjoyed the better reliabilty when the car was stronger at the end of the season.

Agreed, but he's only in his third season. He'll mature with time, even if Ricciardo is currently the better driver.

Maurits Vernel · Dec 31, 2017

even if Ricciardo is currently the better driver.

He is not.

apex11 · Dec 31, 2017

In same Merc as Lewis it would be great to see..... had he of been in Bottas's Merc (so long as it had same engine maps as Lewis) he'd be a WDC IMO.
He is an F1 driver created in a lab by his Dad...and it worked.
Love how he is as a person, seems humble, witty and a nice kid.... everything Lewis isn't IMO.
Hope F1 becomes a bit more level for the at least the very top teams, no point seeing Max in a Merc as he'd just be at the front and the fun from Max is him fighting the cars... The Merc is just too easy it needs banning

When an LMP car overtakes a GT3 car at Le Mans we don't say the LMP driver is better as we know the performance difference is so big....

Jan Larsen · Dec 31, 2017

oorjit07 said:
Drove well, made less mistakes than last year, and those race in Malaysia and Mexico were flawless. 9.

This. Had it not been for all the engine related failures, he would have been quite a bit infront of Ricciardo in the standings.

WOKOWEN1 · Dec 31, 2017

Ricciardo still way better then him. thats a fact! Ricciardo is starting to be one more victim of RedBull's sxxty disrespectful and ungrateful driver management! Wait until Ricciardo gets a good engine and watch Max back to crashing again and again...you will see what I mean.

apex11 · Dec 31, 2017

WOKOWEN1 said:
Ricciardo still way better then him. thats a fact! Ricciardo is starting to be one more victim of RedBull's sxxty disrespectful and ungrateful driver management! Wait until Ricciardo gets a good engine and watch Max back to crashing again and again...you will see what I mean.

OK calm down, both drivers are very good and the most fun to watch. Who is better? Not really sure don't really care.
Both shine very brightly as people, I can imagine hanging out with Dan and Max, they are the closest F1 has to the type of people MotoGP riders are.... Lewis is just an utter prick, at least that's how he comes across to me.
I know to the x factor generation he is some sort of God though....
I do hope one day we see Max in a pretty equal car to Lewis as i'd love to go back to the days when Lewis little chin used to moan and cry every time he was getting beat....before he got the best car by a mile and crap mediocre teamates....

muzikant · Dec 31, 2017

Max is the best! On his age definitely a top driver in the field

Tobiman · Dec 31, 2017

He's made of top level stuff but not as fast as Vettel in terms of all out pace. Singapore and Mexico qualifying confirmed this pretty much. He's also very very good at overtaking but to a fault at times. Still, there's no denying it's a lot of fun to watch when he makes some crazy overtakes stick like in Mexico.

Kevin Bradley · Dec 31, 2017

Had some terrible luck with the Renault engine this year, but as the Red Bull became more of a competitor as the year progressed, so Max started to show his true quality. Two wins in Malaysia and Mexico. Only blot on his copybook this season was taking out his teammate in Hungary with an overzealous move early in the race.

I still think Max and Daniel are the strongest team driver pairing on the grid and it will be very interesting to see if the good relationship can be maintained through the course of next season.

However, back to 2017. The season eventually came good for the kid. Flashes of brilliance amongst many moments of bad luck. He has shown his debut win in 2016 was no fluke with two visits to the top step this year.

Max gets a 9/10 from me.

Still only 20 years old and will surely get even better over the course of the next few seasons!!