Austrian Grand Prix, 2019
His starting position was still extremely favorable before the start lights went out, but after a bad start Max Verstappen falls far back. What follows is a catch-up race in which it is not so much noticeable how many people he overtakes, but especially who. From eighth place, he works his way up to the race lead and eventual victory under his own power. Before that, with the Honda engine in the rear, he passes all the big names of the sport, including Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and the new, future star, Charles Leclerc. Even the race management couldn’t stop him from winning when it was checked whether the action on the Monegask was completely fair.
2015 Belgian Grand Prix
In Max Verstappen’s first season as Toro Rosso racing driver, the Dutchman steals the show at ‘his’ Spa-Francorchamps. A grid penalty throws him back to eighteenth place on the grid after qualifying. With a resounding catch-up race he rides to eighth place on Sunday. Maybe it’s not so much the final standings that make it a great catch-up race, but its actions. The maneuver outside of Felipe Nasr in Blanchimont is etched in the memory of every F1 enthusiast.
2016 Brazilian Grand Prix
This race is not a traditional make-up race in the sense that it has a bad starting position at the start. During the soaking wet GP, Max Verstappen decides to get a new set of full wets in the final phase of the race, knowing that he will fall far back. What follows is a masterclass in wet riding. In a few laps he works his way up from sixteenth place to third place. The Red Bull driver finds grip where other drivers do not. The comparison with the legendary Ayrton Senna is not exaggerated after that race.
Van China Grand Prix, 2017
In a half of the season in which bad luck seems to be on the heels of Max Verstappen, the Grand Prix of China is a single bright spot. Nobody would have said that in advance, because due to engine problems, the Dutchman starts from sixteenth place. Just like in Brazil six months earlier, the youngster is taking full advantage of the wet conditions. The opening round in particular is great. At the first pass, he is already seventh, and at the end of the race he is in third place, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
United States Grand Prix, 2017 and 2018
In the same year, Max Verstappen shows at the Circuit of The Americas that he usually knows how to find the way forward. Thanks to a new engine, the then two-time GP winner starts in sixteenth place. He actually drives to the podium, but is put back because of an illegal overtaking on Kimi Raikkonen in the eyes of the race management. A year later, ‘sandwiches’ were placed on the inside of that bend to prevent a repeat. Verstappen of all people breaks his wheel suspension during qualifying. Verstappen takes revenge a day later by repeating his catch-up race from 2017, but finishing it this time with a second place.
Russian Grand Prix, 2021
Max Verstappen has yet to take a grid penalty sometime in the season after he lost an engine in his heavy crash at Silverstone. Red Bull chooses to do that in Sochi, where he already has a grid penalty for a crash with Hamilton in the race at Monza. The catch-up race that follows takes him past drivers like Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas who are also at the back of the grid, but behind Fernando Alonso the advance stagnates. However, when the rainwater comes down in the final phase, his early changer to intermediates is like a fish in water and he catapults himself into second place.
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