The maximum deployment of all drivers led to Max’s world title

Today Max Verstappen receives the world championship trophy at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Paris. He earned that prize on the basis of his individual talent. But equally because the Red Bull team made clever use of all the drivers and their accompanying colours. Because it is not about one single colour. Only when you combine and apply them all do you arrive at a high-performance result.

Turquoise is in favour of the hybrid system

The hybrid system in Formula 1 adds extra excitement. By charging that system while driving, you have more power and can overtake more effectively. What is more, that electric system is more sustainable than an engine that guzzles nothing but fossil fuel. Turquoise is happy with that, because striving for a more sustainable world is in its genes. Turquoise is also good at putting things into perspective. Far better than Toto Wolff of Mercedes, who smashes his headset on the table when he considers a decision by race control to be wrong.

Yellow goes for a creative tyre strategy

Of course you need a bit of luck, or rather more than a bit. But in the final race in Abu Dhabi too, a creative tyre strategy from Red Bull, thought up outside the (pit) box, meant that Max sat in his car with tears of joy after the chequered flag had fallen. It should be noted that yellow this time went for the red and therefore fastest and most aggressive tyre. Once on the podium Max had his tears under control again, because yellow is simply excellent at keeping an overview. The emotional overview too.

Green enjoys good communication over the radio

Gianpiero Lambiase is Max Verstappen's race engineer. During a race it is his voice that regularly turns up in Max's earpiece. Gianpiero lets Max know whether he has to change something about his engine setting, who is driving in front of and behind him, and whether or not he should look after his tyres. Gianpiero also indicates when Max should make a pit stop. Good communication over the radio is therefore essential to achieving together the success you want to achieve.

Orange: there is only one starting row, the first

Max was on the front row in Abu Dhabi. He even had pole position. He let it slip away, quite literally, because he had too much wheel spin in the first few metres. As a result Lewis Hamilton dived into the first corner ahead of him. But Max is called Verstappen and not Verslappen, Dutch for slackening off. He keeps his drive in every respect. Including when he saw Lewis setting the fastest lap time and keeping on doing it. A Formula 1 cliché goes: to finish first you first have to finish. And who ultimately finished first? Exactly.

Red: rather go off together than be overtaken

Formula 1 was a deadly sport for a long time. The cars are much safer now, although there is still often enough reason for drivers and spectators to get the shivers. Max parks that fear when he puts his foot on the accelerator. We have seen that many times over the past season. Including while overtaking. In Monza, for instance, he put his car on top of Lewis Hamilton's. And earlier, at Silverstone, he even ended up in hospital after a clash with that same Hamilton. It would frighten you. Not Max. His decisiveness is too great for that.

Blue goes for the details

It is a delight to see how Max's pit crew dots the i's. Before Max drives out, there is always someone giving his car one last polish. Who knows, that might save another 0.001 of a second. Or, for the same speed advantage during a pit stop, they adjust a wing by a nanomillimetre. Nor is it a coincidence that Red Bull is known for its lightning-fast tyre changes. And what is exactly the right moment to pit, so that you do not lose track position? It is all in the detail.

Purple wants to be second driver when the team asks for it

Sergio (Checo) Perez made Hamilton's life miserable in Abu Dhabi by holding him up for as long as possible. ’That's some dangerous driving’, Hamilton said over the radio when he failed to get past Perez. Max on the radio as he closed in on the pair: ’Checo is a legend.’ Or: the purple Perez sacrificed himself in the team's interest and fulfilled his role as second driver in first-class fashion.

The video below briefly sums up how the different drivers add value in Formula 1.

Summary

Successful teams often have a common driver. When you make use of the strength of every individual driver, you considerably increase the chance of delivering a high-performance result. That is clear from the many workshops and team development programmes that MyDrives MyHabits MyMatch runs.

Finally: and what about Jos Verstappen?

How grey can a face be? Father Jos Verstappen lost all sense of colour once Max had secured the world title. A little later his cheeks were red again. The colour that suits a mentor who let nothing and nobody stop him from making his son the best racer in the world.