Alex Jacques

Mercedes wanted him.

But Red Bull had a trump card that no one else had.

They had two teams in Formula 1.

Formula 1 was not always the popular product that it is today.

And at one point, Red Bull were invited to buy a second team, basically to prop up numbers on the grid.

And they'd kept it to train up their junior drivers.

It meant that when Ferrari offered a seat in Formula 2 and Mercedes offered a seat in Formula 2, Red Bull could go, you know what?

He's good enough.

It doesn't matter if when we sign him, he's 16 years of age and he's had one season in a single-seater car in Formula 3.

Let's just stick him in Formula 1.

And

And so he was the chosen one to reach the front from the youngest age anyone has ever been allowed in Formula One to the point where they changed the license rules to try and stop anyone coming through that young at all.

They changed the dimensions of the cars to try and make them more difficult to drive.

That is how unusual a talent like Verstappen being allowed in so young was.

So the fact he eventually made his way to the front to be a championship contender, not a surprise at all because Red Bull went all in.

The people in charge of the team at the time, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, staked their reputations on it.

If he'd been dangerous and crashed in to people time and time again, it would have been an enormous embarrassment.

So they put a lot of faith in and he was downright sensational, basically from the word go.

No, I would describe it as the most intense title battle I've ever seen.

I didn't really think it could get ratcheted up to the level that it was.