"Max doesn't need any start-up time” – Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen won’t need much time to adapt to 2022 cars

Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen doesn’t need any “start-up time” to adapt to the 2022 cars. The Austrian claimed that the reigning world champion will be on pace right from the get-go.

Speaking of Red Bull’s prospects for the 2022 season, during an interview with ServusTV, Marko said:

“Max doesn’t need any start-up time. He’s always quick right away.”

Max Verstappen has previously spoken about his approach to driving and how he’s planning to adapt his “driving style” to the new cars. The Dutchman says that he doesn’t have a particular driving style, but rather tries to constantly adapt to the needs of the car to extract the maximum out of it.

The new generation of cars will have considerably less downforce compared to the outgoing generation of cars, and are therefore expected to be much more difficult to drive on the edge. Based on initial testing in team simulators, however, drivers and engineers up and down the grid have varying opinions on the new cars’ driveability.

During an interview with RaceFans early last year, Alfa Romeo’s technical director Jan Monchaux claimed that the increased weight of the new cars combined with the thinner 18-inch tires will make the handling worse compared to the previous generation of cars.

This opinion has been echoed by a few drivers including McLaren’s Lando Norris. The Briton, based on his testing in the team’s simulator, claimed that the cars are much more similar in handling to those in F2.

Meanwhile, outgoing Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas had a differing opinion of the new cars, after stints in both Mercedes and Alfa Romeo simulators. The Finn in an interview with Autosport claimed that there wasn’t a “crazy” difference between the two generations in terms of handling and felt that the new cars lacked “a bit of downforce”.

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Max Verstappen has a history of quickly adapting to new cars

Helmut Marko’s claims about Max Verstappen not needing any time to get up to speed with a new car are backed up by the Dutchman’s impressive performances throughout his career in F1.

Over his seven-year-long career in the top flight of motorsports, Verstappen has often extracted the most out of the package he has been given. He has turned out to be a constant thorn in the sides of Mercedes and Ferrari, despite his relative lack of experience in single-seater racing before F1.

Verstappen’s skills at making the most out of a difficult car were most evident during the 2020 season when Red Bull had one that was fast but tricky to handle. The RB16 was extremely fickle in terms of handling and generally suffered from rear instability.

While his teammate Alex Albon had to make setup compromises just to be able to cope with the rear snapping at low speeds, Verstappen often went for risky setups that yielded more performance.

Similarly, Max Verstappen has time and again shown that he can find grip during adverse weather conditions while everyone else is struggling. One of the most memorable instances of such a performance was at the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix when he scythed through the field in sopping wet conditions to finish on the podium.