Max Verstappen revealed Red Bull were told they were crazy to join forces with Honda after the Japanese company’s early struggles in Formula 1.
Red Bull took a leap of faith with Honda back in 2018, when they agreed to work with the Japanese power unit supplier to start supplying their sister team Toro Rosso, now AlphaTauri.
In 2019, Red Bull themselves started using Honda power after their rocky relations with Renault, as it turned out to be a successful collaboration that culminated in Max Verstappen’s maiden F1 Title in 2022.
Verstappen won his second Title with Honda-built power units at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, at Suzuka, and reflected on celebrating success for the second year in a row with Honda, at their home.
“At the moment it does feel perfect,” Verstappen told Formula 1’s official website. “Because it’s not only because of just, you know, that we are driving with Honda, we’ve been really working together with them now for a few years, and with all the Japanese fans around.
Verstappen: Japanese fans vert dedicated
“[The fans], they love motorsport, they love Formula 1,” he added. “And they really always dress up for the occasion. It’s really nice to be here.
“First of all, this is am amazing track. I love coming to Japan in the first place. And also all the fans, they wait for you, all the evening, all the night, they probably even sleep in their cars to then see you in the morning again, so they are very dedicated.
“It’s definitely very special always to come back here. That’s why three years [away] was definitely too long,” the Dutchman insisted.
“It’s also where we [Honda and Red Bull] came from together,” the Red Bull ace looked back. “Because I think everyone, or most people, told us we were crazy when we started to work with them back in the day, ‘is it going to work out’, you know, because they had a tough time at that time.
“But you see, never give up and full dedication to make it work, and that’s what happened. Of course, already last year, we were very competitive, but even better this year. And that’s why I’m really proud of the whole team and I’m also very proud of everyone within Honda for that mentality,” Verstappen explained.
“Because it’s hard when you have a lot of criticism on you,” he admitted. “And there’s a lot of pressure, because people are demanding a lot and you need to perform, and you need to show results. But I think they stayed calm and they knew what they had to do, eventually, and look where we are now.”
The emotions differ between Title one and Title two
“I mean, very different emotions, of course,” was the double F1 Champion’s response when asked about how different his first and second Title triumphs felt.
“But also that’s because of the whole season anyway being very different. And you’re already starting with completely different cars, a completely different way of racing. And then, of course, also the amount of races we’ve won.
“But also they all came in quite a different way. Like, last year it was all really qualifying-dependent, and that’s how you would normally win a race.
“Last year, all the way until the last race is probably the worst kind of feeling, going into that last race,” Verstappen recalled. But also because at the time, I don’t think we were the quickest anymore, so that also doesn’t help. And this year, I think, it’s just been very, very different in emotions from the start, all the way through to the year.
“But you know, both are beautiful and both are, at the end of the day, nice to experience because it’s nice also really to have always the pressure on and having to perform to your limit every single lap of the race, but not for too many years in a row. So, I was very happy with the year we had this time around.
“I think the first one is always the most emotional, but I think this one is definitely the better one, just in terms of performance,” the 25-year-old summed up.