Palmer on his only duel with Verstappen

Jolyon Palmer, a former Formula 1 driver and now an expert on the championship’s official website, shared his memories of the only episode where he had the chance to compete with Max Verstappen on the track.

It was in March 2016, at Palmer’s debut Australian Grand Prix. The Briton then became Kevin Magnussen’s partner in the Renault works team, which completely changed its composition that season.

Jolyon Palmer: “There was a short episode where I fought Max on my F1 debut. In 2016 in Australia I drove ninth in my Renault and held up to Carlos Sainz, Max’s Toro Rosso team-mate, in the second half of the race.

Verstappen was very angry because he was behind Sainz and worried he wouldn’t get a chance to fight me. But Carlos finally got ahead of me and already in the next corner Max overtook me, and in a very decisive way. Now I’m mad because I was outside the top ten.

This can be seen as a short description of Max’s style, which he then controlled: he did everything fast, cool and aggressive. In addition, during the period when he was only performing for himself, he allowed himself a lot by communicating with the team on the radio – he didn’t care what others thought of him.

We can say that I no longer had any fights with Max on the track, because after a few races he was transferred to Red Bull Racing. But even when he raced for Toro Rosso, you could sense the confidence he had in himself and his abilities, and his victory in his debut race for Red Bull Racing, which he won under pressure (2016 Spanish Grand Prix), was a confirmation.

Probably when I was driving with him in Formula 1, the Brazil race in 2016 made the strongest impression on me. The conditions were terrible – aquaplaning, zero visibility and many accidents, which I couldn’t escape.

But Max did a great job. He masterfully kept the car on track as it spun into the final corner where many had problems that day. The speed of his reaction was astonishing and he coped with all difficulties much better than others – those whose race ended in obstacles.

In the final laps after a late pit stop Max drove incredibly well. He pushed his way forward despite the most difficult conditions, and this made a very strong impression. Let me remind you that this was only his second season in Formula 1, but Max’s performance in Brazil only emphasized that he is a special driver.”