Red Bull says Max Verstappen 'technically brilliant' to correct engineer's comments

Red Bull Racing chief engineer Tom McCullough has quickly moved to correct former race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin's comments about Max Verstappen. The current Red Bull driver academy chief previously labelled the two-time Formula 1 world champion "technically weak."

It was unusual to see Verstappen - the team's de-facto number one driver - being criticised by a fellow member of the team. Rocquelin, who is fondly known as Rocky, said that the Dutch racer was "weak technically compared to other drivers we've [Red Bull] worked with" during an appearance on the podcast "Les Fous de Volant."
McCullough has defended Sebastian Vettel and David Coulthard's former race engineer and suggested that he was misquoted by the media. The Red Bull chief engineer also went on to make it clear that any misgivings about Verstappen's technical knowledge are unfounded, labelling him "technically brilliant."

"Max is technically extremely gifted. He did a lot of work as a youngster, often guided by his father, and you can see the legacy of that," McCullough said, as quoted on Formula1 News.

"He knows what he's talking about within the car, and he knows what he wants. And with his engineers, they know how to deliver a car that he finds nicely-balanced, easy to drive – well, not necessarily easy to drive but drivable – [and he] looks after its tyres well enough that he can manage a situation."

McCullough pointed towards Verstappen's record in the last two seasons to prove his point. The Dutch racer won back-to-back F1 world titles in 2021 and 2022, and this past season was particularly impressive.

Verstappen dominated his rivals after the team overcame minor reliability issues troubling them at the start of the 2022 campaign. The Red Bull driver went on to claim 15 wins in 22 races and won his second title at the Japanese Grand Prix.

"If you look at his record over the past seasons he's been with us, it's stunning. He wouldn't have achieved that if he wasn't an exceptional driver," McCullough added.

Similarly, the Austrian team also brushed aside Ferrari's challenge in the Constructors' championship to claim their first title since 2013. Red Bull will start the 2023 campaign as the favourites with Mercedes and the Maranello team playing catch up after failing to match their rivals in the development race last season.