Yess omfgg idk if its new 'lore' because its been talked about so often especially lately wid m£rc's flop era and max leading red bull into truly insane levels of dominance, but its definitely a canon event im obsessed wid. Like u cud not interfere 😭. Its just s0 fitting that not only he told merc 'no' but also telling rbr 'yes' required a move so unethical and unconvential FIA immediately stepped in and made it so it cud never happen again. That brother the only reason we even got a super license system. Max started reshaping the sport before he even made his debut, before he even drove his first race. U look at pictures of that bright eyed lil bug testing for then-toro rosso and u wonder how that was even allowed to happen in the first place. The answer to that, like a whole bunch of hate crimes, child trauma and prolly mankinds suffering, is helmut marko. Max had been closely monitored by the big players since karting, like most f1 superstars. But unlike most f1 superstars, truly unlike any driver since, a jump from f3 to f1 went from 'ridiculous' to 'inevitable' once he won two triple headers in Spa, under mixed conditions, wid pace that outmached anything ever seen from a junior driver. Whatever lil bro did in that circuit it was so profoundly exceptional 2 weeks later at the 2014 german grand prix the Verstappens sat down wid Helmut Marko, then Niki Lauda, and one of them put an f1 seat on the table just so the other one wouldnt get a signature. Like we're talking literally. Autosport.com writes, 'following discussions wid red bull at the team's motorhome in Hockenheim, Verstappens management was immediately approached by Mercedes boss toto wolff and niki lauda and invited for talks with them.' It was widely reported that Max wud sign wid Merc and move into the GP2 feeder in 2015 up until that happened. A common myth is that M£rc wasn’t able to offer a seat, but they did, just a reserve one. Its important to c this as a failure because it highlights todays success as a chain of events that started wid Merc not being able to properly secure their future, but also the giant, almost unconceivable risk Max and his camp took by biting Markos bullet and throwing a kid who had only driven f3 for less than year inside a development meat grinder. What Max was able to do wid it, the type of headaches he gave veterans, how he took a program renowned for its cutthroat nature and turned it into an asset, as a kid, that is important too. In 2015 Brundle was calling him ‘the hottest property in F1 that is not an established race or championship winner’. Lil bro was in a Toro Rosso. I think I've used this metaphor before but like. Max was a lil fish thrown into a tank full of sharks and he swam out of it covered in blood that wasnt his. And that cud've never been a m£rc driver lmfao. Like that was a red bull promise
