Home F1 Monaghan says Verstappen is a technically gifted driver

Paul Monaghan, mAX vERSTAPPEN, f1 — JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 27: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Racing Head of Car Engineering Paul Monaghan celebrate in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on March 27, 2022 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202203270573 // Usage for editorial use only //

Monaghan says Verstappen is a technically gifted driver

14/01/2023

Paul Monaghan defends Max Verstappen to be technically gifted after discussions about him not being so for Red Bull F1 team.

Verstappen is a two time world champion and his driving ability cannot be questioned at all. He has been a driver with a myriad of ability and speed to boot. The combination and connection of a driver and in particular his race engineer, plus all other technical personnel is one of the integral parts in any F1 team which helps them prosper.

Information being transferred between driver and engineer positively is the meat and drink of success. Last season, that would have been the case for Verstappen. While a driver’s job is to drive, technical ability, no matter how limited will always be a bonus for any team.

The technical ability of Verstappen has always came under scrutiny but Red Bull chief Paul Monaghan doesn’t thinks that as he feels he is extremely gifted. “Max is technically extremely gifted,” he said to media. “He did a lot of work as a youngster, often guided by his father. And you can see the legacy of that”.

“He knows what he’s talking about within the car. And he knows what he wants. And with his engineers, they know how to deliver a car that he finds nicely-balanced, easy to drive – well, not necessarily easy to drive but driveable – looks after its tyres well enough that he can manage a situation. And if you look at his record over the past seasons he’s been with us, it’s stunning. He wouldn’t achieve that if he wasn’t an exceptional driver”.

“And can he improve? Yes, of course he can. He might not thank me for saying that. But I think there are areas he can get a little bit better. He’ll dig into himself and think what could he do better for a season. And it’s up to us to give him a car to go and demonstrate those skills in 2023,” summed up Monaghan.

Drivers like Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna were brilliant technically during their careers, to name but two. Verstappen is another one who knows his stuff and as a result of that, don’t rule out a third title in a row.

Here’s Paul Monaghan on 2022 being satisfying

Here’s Christian Horner on Red Bull becoming unpopular

Here’s Adrian Newey on impact of less windtunnel time

Here’s Christian Horner picking Max Verstappen’s best of 2022

Here’s Max Verstappen on being pushed despite dominance

Here’s Christian Horner on hiring Adrian Newey