The Prodigy and the Golden Boy.

"At 18 years and 207 days…”

“He won in Spa; He wins in Monza…”

Two iconic lines that will go down in racing legend as the moments that marked the emergence of two of the most prodigious talents in racing.

One fiery Dutchman and one cool Monegasque. Childhood rivals now competing on the biggest stage.

A shocking upset.

Following a string of disappointing performances from Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat, 18-year-old fresh-faced Max Verstappen was thrust into the pinnacle of motorsport in May of 2016. The world was aware of this brash, abrasive teenager, but there was still doubt in the minds of fans about his “bin it or win it” attitude.

It was his second season in F1 driving for Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso and he had impressed with his fearless driving style and heart-stopping overtakes. 4 races in and he was driving alongside Daniel Ricciardo at the front of the grid. But he rose to the occasion by qualifying for P4, ahead of the Ferrarris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. After the famous Collision between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Max found himself sitting in P2, and a few laps later, in the lead of the race. He set flawless lap after flawless lap to keep the two Ferraris behind him and become F1’s youngest race winner.

The excitement was palpable in the Circuit de Catalunya as the 18-year-old crossed the line to the cheers of the Spanish crowd. One of the highest-pressure situations in all of sport and he delivered. Max Verstappen achieved a lifelong dream and Red Bull captured lightning in a bottle.

Max celebrating after winning in 2016

Max Verstappen was born and bred to be a racing driver. His father, Jos, competed in F1 for 8 years, never achieving anything truly remarkable. His mother, Sophie, was a kart racer who saw success early in her career but gave up the sport after meeting Jos. It would have been safe to say that Max was not going to be an accountant.

He was trained from the moment he knew what a steering wheel was and was pushed to his limit by his father to make his son a racing prodigy. The relationship between the father and the son is a complicated one. Max has shared stories of his father not talking to him for days. If he would make a mistake in karting, abandoning him at gas stations, and berating him, saying that he would be a “truck driver”.

It was tough, bordering on abusive, love. We can argue if Max’s success is because of or despite Jos’s methods, but one thing is for certain, he has become a generational talent.

Max’s tumultuous upbringing would eventually culminate in him winning the biggest prize in racing, as he defeated the Mercedes juggernaut and statistical greatest of all time Lewis Hamilton. The fact that Verstappen was the only non-Mercedes WDC in the turbo hybrid era is an indictment of his maturation as a driver. Almost supernatural ability to wring every ounce of performance out of the machinery at his disposal.

From a reckless rookie to a record-breaking champion.

A breathtaking homecoming

9 years had passed since the Tifosi saw a scarlet car cross the finish line first at their home race of Monza. Fernando Alonso achieved the feat in 2010, but the long drought was almost worth the wait. In September of 2019, Charles Leclerc, in only his 14th race for Ferrari, conquered the Temple of Speed in mesmerizing fashion.

He held back perhaps the fastest f1 car ever created in the form of the W10. First in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, who was stuck to Leclerc’s rear wing over for half the race distance.

Eventually Hamilton would blink as he made a mistake, going straight on at turn 1, but Charles delivered lap after lap on the limit without fault. After Hamilton’s mistake, Valtteri Bottas was set loose to chase after the Monegasque. He gained to within a second of Leclerc, but Charles was unfazed and determined.

He entered a different plane, he was truly untouchable. Not even God was going to overtake Charles Leclerc on that day at Monza.

In addition to the glory of Monza 2019, there was also poignance. Just one week before the race in Italy, Leclerc had to deal with the unfortunate and heartbreaking passing of his longtime friend and colleague Anthoine Hubert. Hubert met with an accident during the F2 portion of the spa-franchocshamps race weekend. It was an incident that would make any driver uncomfortable to drive, let alone a friend. But all 20 drivers would take the track, with Leclerc being on pole and winning his first F1 race.

The celebrations were of course muted, and Charles pointed to the sky with the trophy as he gestured to his friend.

One week later in Monza, Leclerc repeated the feat of winning the race. The celebrations were not damp, they were glorious. Charles was ecstatic like a kid on Christmas, he celebrated for Anthoine and kept him in his memory with a “For Tonio” sticker on the back of his steering wheel. There is no doubt that Hubert would have been looking down on his friend, smiling and proud.

Charles celebrating after winning in 2019

There are not many fan bases in all sports that can relate to the die-hard faithful of Ferrari, with its peaks and its troughs. The last Ferrari world drivers champion was Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, and since then it has been heartbreak, disappointment, and fleeting hope for the Tifosi. But in 2019 the arrival of Leclerc breathed new life into the Scuderia, they finally had the youthful exuberance and tenacity that they had lacked in the last decade or so.

When Leclerc won at Monza in the fashion that he did, the fans began to buy into this young, dynamic talent, who was capable of besting any driver on the grid. The golden boy had come home.

The dawn of the feud

F1 is a sport where drivers all come up the same way. Through the same rankings, and competitions due to this, it is very common to see that drivers on the grid have faced each other before. Whether that be in the junior formulas or even kart racing. It is a structure meant to weed out the best of the best, and in that we often see the same drivers competing at every level.

Verstappen and Leclerc often found themselves in competition throughout their junior careers, the first of which came 12 years ago at an Italian karting event. Max and Charles would both have been just 12 years old during this time and the two were among 108 other drivers. Max would finish a very impressive P2, while Charles struggled a bit coming home in P21 out of 34 starters. This race would not see much action between the pair, but there would be fireworks just 2 years later.

In 2012, in a WSK Euro Series Karting race, both Max and Charles were disqualified for causing a collision with each other. The authorities distributed equal blame for the incident by way of a double disqualification. Max did not share the same opinion, he was furious. “I had the corner and he just turned in on me!! It’s so unfair”. He exclaimed as he huffed down the paddock, his face bright red. Leclerc, however, was much more composed and did not seem to mind the DQ. In a now-famous interview, 14-year-old Charles declared the situation “Just an inchident” putting his Monegasque twang on the statement.

This was the beginning of a rivalry between the two most talented drivers of their generation. In 2022 that rivalry is on display, on the grandest stage in motorsport.

Verstappen and Leclerc on a karting podium in 2013

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fastest of them all?

Are Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc the same? Or are they perfect opposites? The immediate and majority response would be that they are opposites. Max is aggressive and acts on instinct, and Charles is composed and takes a more cerebral approach to his racing. While both are true and imperative weapons in the arsenals of the two, the answer to the question lies in the gray.

In 2022 we have seen a new facet to Max Verstappen’s mastery of an F1 car, and it is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle: patience. Max has struck the perfect balance of his raw instinctual aggression and intelligent patience that we have seen in the Hamiltons, the Schumachers, the Sennas, etc.

For Charles, it has been a tenuous year, to say the least, being let down by the reliability of the car, team strategy, and on occasion individual errors. That is not to say that Leclerc has not been one of the most impressive drivers on the grid. Leclerc was labeled a more thoughtful wheel-to-wheel racer, using car placement and strategic braking as opposed to rash late braking and aggressive wheel banging. We have also seen glimpses of Charles harnessing a more impulsive and belligerent side to his racing. The aggression that Leclerc has displayed may or may not work, but it does indicate a desperation to compete and win at the world championship level.

Verstappen has Leclerc-esq attributes and Leclerc has Verstappen-esq qualities. The pair are more similar than largely thought, perhaps that is why they have been and will be such great rivals. In a way, they are competing with themselves, with a twisted mirror.

Max and Charles pre-race before Austria 2020

Max and Charles. Verstappen and Leclerc. Car #1 and car #16. The flying Dutchman and the prince of the principality. The prodigy and the golden boy.

2022 is looking likely to go the way of Verstappen, but these 2 superstars have the blank canvas of the entire 2020s to paint their story. The skies will be red one day, and orange another, and F1 fans will be salivating for the decade to come. It is important for us not to get caught up in the semantics of fanaticism. We must be appreciative that these two drivers are competing against one another, and if history is anything to go by, we are in for a treat.