Bernie Collins explains why her F1 colleagues thought Max Verstappen ‘would never be world champion’

Max Verstappen is putting together another magnificent Formula 1 season. After five races, he’s within 12 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen has only won once this year – his lowest tally at this stage since 2020 – but consistency has once again been his ally. He’s finished on the podium three times (four if one includes the China Sprint) and even on his worst weekend in Bahrain, he still salvaged sixth.

The Dutchman has also produced two sensational pole laps, particularly his first of the year in Suzuka. Red Bull’s car swings from second-fastest to fourth-fastest – they’re already almost 100 points behind pacesetters McLaren – but it would be extremely brave to rule Verstappen out.

If he wins the title this year, he will tie Michael Schumacher’s record of five straight. If he isn’t already in the greatest of all time conversation, that would certainly be enough to qualify.

Max Verstappen seemed too ‘aggressive’ and error-prone to win a title

Speaking on the Indo Sport podcast, former F1 strategist Bernie Collins recalled the early paddock narratives around Verstappen. He made his debut in 2015 with Toro Rosso and was promoted to Red Bull early in 2016.

He remains the youngest race-winner in F1 history after an extraordinary debut victory in Spain. But his first few seasons were also marked by a string of incidents.

In 2017, he finished 32 points behind teammate Daniel Ricciardo after retiring from seven races, with three of those DNFs caused by collisions. At the start of the following year, his driving style came under heavy scrutiny as he was penalised for hitting Sebastian Vettel in China before crashing in Monaco.

Collins was working for Force India (now Aston Martin) at that time, and some of her colleagues thought Verstappen was too ‘aggressive’ to become a world champion. But it’s worth pointing out he was only 20/21 years old at that time, and he’s matured into an almost flawless package.

“The Max of old a few years ago, there was a time when people said – I heard people at the team when I was working at the time – Max will never be world champion,” Collins recalled.

“He was making a lot of mistakes, he was crashing the car, he was very aggressive, not putting the best together. He’s matured so much in the last few years.

“It’s easy to forget that there was a time when people thought ‘he’s not going to win’ because he wasn’t getting the best out of the car.

“Now he’s matured to the point of being calm, not being aggressive, not crashing with other drivers. He has brought it together, and that’s what’s making him a great driver.”

How Max Verstappen shocked F1 title rival Oscar Piastri in Saudi Arabia

Verstappen undeniably remains one of the more aggressive drivers on the F1 grid. That’s part of the reason he has eight penalty points – only four off a race ban.

Indeed, Karun Chandhok says Verstappen has a ‘party trick’ like Schumacher or Ayrton Senna, in his case releasing the brakes to claim the apex of a corner, only for his momentum to take him off track. That controversial tactic has worked for him in the past, but it led to a five-second penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Piastri was surprised by how fast Verstappen was in the first stint after he artificially held the lead. Even though he dropped back to second after the pit stops, it was another warning that he’s going nowhere in the title fight.

The key difference between current Verstappen and early Verstappen is that he now knows how to control his aggression. He managed to finish 23 out of 24 races last year, and even then, his only retirement was due to a mechanical issue.