“In F1, if all the drivers were the same, it would be boring”
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After winning, in extremis, his first world title in Formula 1 at the expense of Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) in December 2021, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) is having a top-flight season – he already has 9 victories –, and occupies the leads the drivers’ standings with a 93-point lead over his Mexican teammate, Sergio Perez. The 24-year-old Dutchman indulged in World a few days before playing at home the Dutch Grand Prix, Sunday September 4, on the Zandvoort circuit in the middle of the dunes of the North Sea beaches.
This weekend in Zandvoort, on the occasion of “your” national Grand Prix, the “Oranje” madness will take over the circuit: how do you manage this excitement?
I can’t wait to be there, it’s going to be crazy. I don’t feel any extra pressure because I always try to give the maximum, whatever the circuit. So yeah, I hope to win here, but the fans, while important, shouldn’t be the determining factor in what drives you to excel. Once I’m behind the wheel and at full speed, even though there’s orange everywhere around me, I’ll focus on my riding and nothing else.
You have become a sports legend in your country but give the impression of being the antithesis of a star, unlike for example the Briton Lewis Hamilton…
This stardom is part of Formula 1. Everyone has a different outlook, I just live my life the way I think I should. But yeah, I think I’m a normal guy.
After your last victory at the Belgian Grand Prix (August 28), your boss, Christian Horner, spoke of you as a driver who “is one with his car (…) in a state of grace” . How do you explain it?
I had a very pleasant weekend [sourire]. We knew we were going to get a penalty for changing engines [les changements en cours de saison concernant le moteur sont réglementés], so we didn’t necessarily come for the win. But the way the car behaved during those three days was incredible. This kind of weekend where everything goes perfectly from the first lap is very rare.
Was this long-awaited first world champion title a relief?
That’s what people say, but for me it was just an extension of what I was already doing. When you have an ideal environment around you and the car, you are able to achieve this kind of performance. Over the years, you don’t improve so much on your raw pace in racing but you progress by experimenting with things throughout the seasons, as if you were putting the pieces of a puzzle together.
I always said that anything after the first league win would be a bonus. This is indeed the case. But I want to win even more.
You were promoted during the 2016 season within the Red Bull team. Waiting five years before having a car to play for the world title is a long time when you know your character…
You have to believe in the project. I appreciate what Red Bull did for me at the start of my career to get me a place in Formula 1. You can change teams, go right or left when things aren’t going well, but whatever comes first , is trust in the process.
It was sometimes more difficult, especially when we encountered reliability problems at the beginning. But I always believed in my team. The sequel proved that one is sometimes rewarded for being loyal.
The young Australian driver Oscar Piastri refused to sign for Alpine when he was supported by the French team…
I don’t know what happened and I have no idea of the contract that bound them. I can only speak for myself. Again, I think loyalty is important.
Do you already consider yourself the equal of the greatest pilots?
I don’t want to compare myself to anyone. You can’t compare different eras in sport anyway, people evolve, sport evolves… It’s just impossible.
Certainly, but in your opinion, do we enter the history of F1 more in relation to the prize list, the emotions that we procure or our personality?
Some only look at the numbers and statistics, and others focus on the sports personality themselves, what they have done for the sport, etc. I’m not really a numbers person because again, the sport is changing. Today, there are more races, so more chances of winning races.
At this stage, is Red Bull’s lead in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships irreversible?
We can win both championships. I focus, of course, on the ranking of the constructors but also on myself. I know things can change very quickly. It’s up to us to try not to make mistakes.
And maybe it’s this perfectionism that makes you win?
For sure. That’s how I grew up, I always want to try to achieve perfection, even if it’s very difficult. When you win races, from the outside, you might think you’re just enjoying the moment. Yes, we are profiting, but we are also looking at what we can do even better. And that’s why our team is so successful right now.
We’ve said everything about the rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull, the one between you and Hamilton. There were a lot of sound bites and provocations: is this a real psychological war?
Maybe some people saw it that way. I don’t really care, I just focus on my driving. Talking people don’t bother me in the least when I enter the track.
In an interview, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that “uncontrolled emotions are bad for performance”, an allusion to your temperament…
It’s a matter of personality. We all react differently, depending on how we grew up and raced in the past. It’s a good thing to have so many different personalities among F1 drivers. If we were all the same, it would be boring.
The particularity of Red Bull is not to be a manufacturer. It is therefore necessary to forge partnerships, like the one with Honda which has been extended until 2025. Where is the project to build your own engine?
The majority opinion was that you couldn’t win in F1 without being a car manufacturer. We demonstrated that it was possible to team up with an engine manufacturer and become very efficient. What Red Bull has achieved is very impressive, I don’t think many teams would have been able to do that. Designing your own engine is not an easy thing but I think we are on the right track to achieve it one day.
Are you involved in strategic decision-making?
Not so much for engines. I hear the talk about it, but I’m not the one making the phone calls, I’m just the pilot! And my role is to give my feelings when I’m driving.
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