{"id":369617,"date":"2025-12-26T08:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T08:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/369617\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T08:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T08:16:11","slug":"verstappen-names-key-2018-race-as-turning-point-in-f1-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/369617\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen names key 2018 race as turning point in F1 journey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpblog.com\/en\/f1-drivers\/max-verstappen\" title=\"Max Verstappen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Verstappen<\/a> has singled out a defining moment in his 2018 season as the turning point of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpblog.com\/en\/formula-1\" title=\"Formula 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1<\/a> career.\u201cI had a turnaround in Montreal\u2026 that&#8217;s really when it clicked.\u201d- Max VerstappenSpeaking on the Talking Bulls podcast, the four-time world champion highlighted the Canadian Grand Prix in 2018 as a crucial point in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpblog.com\/en\/f1\" title=\"F1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1<\/a> career where everything \u201cclicked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch driver explained how the outing at the Montreal race brought an end to a negative spiral he had found himself in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c2018, the start. The first seven races, I think, I was just making mistakes myself, and then you get into a negative spiral. You try to push even harder, and it all just doesn&#8217;t work out. I was really upset with myself, and then I had a turnaround in Montreal. I have to say, I think from that day, that&#8217;s really when it clicked,\u201d Verstappen said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180610-0330-694d3036e0bc9.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"verstappen-podium-montreal-canada-jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Max Verstappen on the podium during the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix &#8211; Photo: Race Pictures<\/p>\n<p>The 2018 race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he recorded a third-place finish, indeed proved to be a pivotal point in Verstappen\u2019s career, as it not only put an end to a streak of inconsistent results but also marked the beginning of several impressive performances. Since the Canadian Grand Prix, he has gone on to win a staggering 68 races.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen hailed among F1\u2019s best driversRalf Schumacher also<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpblog.com\/en\/news\/schumacher-verstappen-hailed-as-two-best-drivers-in-f1-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> named Verstappen among the best drivers in Formula 1 history. <\/a>The 50-year-old singled out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpblog.com\/en\/f1-teams\/red-bull-racing\" title=\"Red Bull Racing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Red Bull Racing<\/a> driver alongside his brother Michael as the greatest drivers he has witnessed.<\/p>\n<p>Schumacher highlighted their relentless quest for improved performance as one of several traits that make them stand out.<\/p>\n<p>Catch up with GPBlog\u2019s Latest Paddock Update<\/p>\n<p>With the post-2025 season finale action and reaction continuing, our paddock update is the place to be.<\/p>\n<p>Follow and subscribe to our channels on YouTube and Spotify to stay up to date with all the happenings as they unfold, following the final Grand Prix of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Check out the latest episode of our paddock update here \ud83d\udc47<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has singled out a defining moment in his 2018 season as the turning point of his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,28673,576,577,1885,2190,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-369617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-f1-news","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-max-verstappen","15":"tag-red-bull-racing","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}