What makes Max Verstappen as brilliant in wet as Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna
Max Verstappen produced one of the great wet-weather drives in F1 history to all but secure his fourth world drivers’ title. Given he started 17th on the grid and won by almost 20 seconds, it was a remarkable turnaround.
His expertise and dominance in the rain is something we have seen before. But what makes him and previous ‘rainmasters’ like Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna so brilliant in these conditions?
The primary factor is feel in the car. Feeling the grip level when the circuit is wet is crucial because every lap the track changes, whether that means getting wetter or drying out. Sometimes certain sections of the track will dry while others dampen.
Driving in the wet you must be in a constant state of hyper-awareness, even more so than in the dry. Drivers are always focusing on moving a little bit off line to see if there’s more grip perhaps on the inside or outside of a corner.
They are also constantly modifying their line to negotiate the standing water and rivers that you get at places like Interlagos when it rains. The car is always on the move to a much greater degree in the wet. The car is always sliding and moving, so it is about having that finesse, as opposed to having the courage and bravery in dry conditions.
The KEY MOMENT Max Verstappen took the lead of the Sao Paulo GP! 🏎️ pic.twitter.com/f2oCsxRHkO
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 3, 2024
Really, though, this is all about feel and natural talent and that is hard to learn. Verstappen clearly has it in abundance as he proved with his crushing victory.
Looking at what Verstappen did in Interlagos on Sunday, one of the things you saw instantly on lap one – where he moved from 17th to 12th in no time at all – was at turn three. Just as he did when he rose from 16th to third with 16 laps left in 2016 at the same track, he ran on the outside of that corner after the Senna S.
It’s a brave thing to do on the first lap because if one of the many cars on the inside gets it wrong it could be the end of your race. Things like this are about talent and having the confidence that you can sort out the problems that are thrown in front of you – they come thick and fast in the wet, especially when you have 1,000 horsepower under your right foot.
Pretend there’s an egg between foot and pedal
We saw many drivers crash on Sunday and all it takes is just a little bit too much throttle too soon or simply sliding on to the white lines or off the dry line. When it comes to throttle control in the wet, drivers almost have to pretend there is an egg between their foot and the pedal. That is how gentle they need to be.
Of course, getting out in front is important too because you do not suffer from the amount of spray that those behind do. Still, Verstappen’s charge came from down in 17th and it was not until the final race restart that he reached the lead.
It is said that the wet is a great equaliser and allows a driver’s talent to stand out. In the wet the drivers are not loading the car up as much so the car’s characteristics do not dominate performance. That is true to some degree but you still need a half-decent car beneath you. Lewis Hamilton has been one of the finest drivers in the wet in recent decades but struggled greatly on Sunday because he did not have confidence in his Mercedes.
Verstappen’s margin of victory was certainly a statement and that was likely his intent. It does not bring him any more than victory and 26 points in the long term, however. Yet it was almost as if Verstappen wanted to say: “I’ve been getting hammered for the last fortnight, I started this race 17th – this is the real me – this is me winning this race, not a Red Bull”.
Verstappen’s championship rival Lando Norris failed to stand out, finishing sixth. He was again timid at the start, leaving a gap for George Russell. It is easy to be critical of Norris in what has been a good season, but when he gets into wheel-to-wheel combat he seems to come off second best when the pressure arrives. He is simply not as comfortable in those sorts of situations as he is over one lap in qualifying or in clean-air races. We again saw a few small mistakes in the wet, though he did at least keep it out of the wall. This shows he is not quite at Verstappen’s level.
Best wet-weather driver I worked with
Drivers like Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton are renowned in the wet but, unfortunately, I never worked with them. One driver who excelled in tricky conditions who I did work with at Jordan and then Stewart was Rubens Barrichello.
Without doubt he had that finesse and he was one of those ‘fingertip’ drivers. He never drove the car with white knuckles, grasping the wheel like it was hanging off the side of a cliff. In conditions where it was a bit dodgy, he is my outstanding driver without doubt.
In 1994 at Spa he took pole in the wet and that was a typical example of his prowess. I was his engineer that season and we had a debate in the pit lane about the conditions and putting on slicks earlier than anyone else.
We knew we were maybe a lap too soon, but we would have one lap to see where the water was, another lap to get the tyre temperature up and the third lap was the one that counted. He was willing to buy into that, gave it his best shot and took a memorable maiden pole for Jordan in tough conditions. He did similar in 1999 at Stewart in the French Grand Prix, also the team’s first pole.
Even at Donington in 1993 when we did not have a good car, he was up there. Senna was clearly the standout that day but Rubens was up to third from 12th on the grid. He sadly had a fuel pressure problem six laps from the end but every time you gave him circumstances where talent would stand out he was able to drag out a result greater than the car’s potential.