Not until 2021 would Verstappen be afforded the opportunity to challenge for the Drivers' Championship - a battle with Hamilton that will be remembered as one of the most dramatic in F1's history.ĭespite lacking experience compared to the seven-time champion, Verstappen refused to wilt under the pressure both internally and externally. Verstappen's stock has continued to rise since that point, securing victories in each year since despite Red Bull being some way behind Mercedes for the majority of the end of the decade.
Verstappen underlined his potential by securing a hard-fought victory in his first race for the team, holding off Raikkonen's advances in a nervy end to the Spanish Grand Prix. Whilst Ricciardo's seven wins for the team established the Australian as a household name for F1 fans, Verstappen's fast-tracked arrival to Toro Rosso in 2015 saw him become the youngest driver in the sport's history.īut his rise accelerated further when he was promoted to Red Bull after four races in 2016. What Vettel had done is given proof that the Red Bull Junior programme was worthwhile, despite the number of drivers that had come and gone for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso before 2014. Red Bull lost its edge when hybrid power units were introduced to F1 in 2014 and having failed to beat new teammate Daniel Ricciardo across the season, Vettel left for Ferrari having amassed 44 pole positions and 65 podiums for Red Bull. The memorable comeback through the field with an extensively damaged car epitomised Vettel's attitude towards racing and again left rival Alonso dumbstruck as to how he had failed to add to his own tally.
Two years later, he must have thought his dream of a third-successive triumph was over when colliding with Bruno Senna at Turn 4 of the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
Many will point to the Abu Dhabi finale in his first championship-winning year as a fortunate series of events in his battle against Alonso, but it must be remembered that no title is won in a single race. Whilst Red Bull was dominant in 20 - where Vettel equalled Alberto Ascari's long-standing record of nine consecutive race victories - 20 saw the championship battle go right down to the wire. Vettel became the fifth different World Champion in five years when securing his first title in 2010, following Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.īut the German's triumph would see the dawn of a four-year period of dominance not seen since his idol Michael Schumacher secured five in a row for Ferrari a decade earlier.
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