This weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix will mark a year since Red Bull driver Max Verstappen produced one of the best performances in F1 history to take victory at Interlagos.
Where did a drive like that, in those conditions, come from? In Max’s case, Brazil 2024 was the product of an entire life’s work.
How PlanetF1.com covered Max Verstappen’s stunning 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix win
A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix. It has been republished ahead of the 2025 race at Interlagos
So what is it that makes Max Verstappen so good in the wet?
How is that he can go from 17th on the grid to winning the Brazilian Grand Prix by almost 20 seconds with such effortlessness?
There was once a time when wet conditions were considered F1’s great equaliser.
In the era of Verstappen, though, the rain makes the advantage the greatest drivers hold over the opposition, usually considerable, appear borderline unfair.
Whenever a driver produces an instant-classic performance of this nature, it is hard to resist thinking of it as the product of an entire life’s work.
For the genesis of Brazil 2024, picture the scene of a young Verstappen taking to the damp karting tracks of Europe at the age of six in his oversized crash helmet, training the receptors in the small of his back to feel the sliding of a moving vehicle before his eyes even begin to register it.
It was in those days led by his father Jos, putting into practice the mistakes of his own unfulfilled career, that Max’s true gift – his natural touch and feel for a racing car – was honed.
It is why he looks at ease braking so deep into Turn 1 at a sodden Interlagos, his instincts telling him that the grip will be there, when so many of his competitors seem almost tentative by comparison.
When it comes to driving style and technique, racing drivers can generally be filed into one of two categories: manipulative drivers and reactive drivers.
The manipulative ones, who like Verstappen tend to be among the very best in the business, remain on top of the car at almost all times with very soft, supple inputs.
In contrast, the reactive types (invariably with jerkier pedal and steering traces) live on their reflexes and respond to whatever the car is doing at any given time, leaving them with a considerably smaller margin for error.
Go deeper: Understanding Red Bull driver Max Verstappen
???? Jos Verstappen: The F1 racer turned ruthless mentor behind Max Verstappen’s supreme F1 talent
???? Revealed: The three rules introduced by the FIA because of Max Verstappen
Indeed, it was noticeable that the five drivers who failed to finish in tricky conditions in Brazil (Lance Stroll, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz) could all be classed as reactive drivers to varying degrees and two more (Oliver Bearman, Fernando Alonso) both had error-ridden races en route to the minor positions.
In particular, Sainz’s spin leading to his retirement, triggered by touching the painted white line under braking, was a mistake typical of a more reactive driver.
Verstappen, meanwhile, was showing them all how it’s done, taking just one lap to move himself from P17 to the fringes of the top 10 and possessing the personality to adopt racing lines and seek grip in parts of the track others lack the imagination (bravery?) to explore.
More than a giant leap towards a fourth consecutive title, this victory has the feel of a riposte to his critics at a time Verstappen’s makeup – the very essence of the man and the racing driver – has come under attack in light of his clashes with Lando Norris in the United States and Mexico.
Yet those too were more by design than accident, incidents years in the making.
More on Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing from PlanetF1.com
???? Max Verstappen news
???? Red Bull news
Why did Verstappen make such an effort to mark himself as a tough, uncompromising competitor in his early days in F1, moving unpredictably under braking in battle with Nico Rosberg and twitching suddenly in front of Kimi Raikkonen in eighth gear on the straight at Spa?
Precisely to mess with his rivals’ minds in these crucial moments, almost a decade later, when a world championship is on the line.
Take the closing laps in Austin, where Norris – noticeably wary of Verstappen’s reputation whenever they have engaged in racing situations in 2024 – got so frustrated with his inability to make a move stick that he got desperate and overtook him off the track, only succeeding in earning himself a penalty and losing valuable points.
Norris was particularly churlish in the aftermath of Sunday’s race at Interlagos, remarking that Verstappen “got a bit lucky.”
There was no luck involved here, only the potent combination of nature and nurture.
All that Max Verstappen is, all that he has achieved, was instilled at an early age.
Days like Brazil 2024, when he reaches up to touch heights few have ever scaled before, are just the natural result.
Read next: Major Max Verstappen race ban update as two drivers avoid FIA sanction