Max Verstappen gave a blunt assessment of the claim Red Bull’s car is designed to suit him rather than his team mate: “Bullshit.”
The reigning world champion and runaway leader in the points standings has won 11 of the 13 grands prix held to date in 2023, with Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez taking the other two.However Verstappen said the suggestion he is able to drive the RB19 so much quicker than his team mate because it was designed to suit him is totally without foundation.
“It’s not like that,” he told media including RaceFans at Monza. “I just drive the car I get the fastest way possible.
“I’m not there to tell the guys to give me more front end because that’s how I like it. I just say ‘design me the fastest car and I’ll drive around that’.
“Every single year it’s just different. Every car drives a little bit different. People will say, ‘what is your driving style?’. My driving style is not something particular – I adapt to what I need for the car to go quick.“
F1 drivers have to be able to alter their approach at the wheel to get the best out of the equipment they have, said Verstappen. “For me, what is very important is that you are able to adapt your driving style to what the car needs.“
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Following his record-equalling ninth win in a row last week, Verstappen said he had learned how to get more out of the car during the last race he didn’t win, in Azerbaijan four months ago.
Perez is aware of the breakthrough his team mate made at that pivotal race. “It’s certainly something to do with his balance, to do with how he’s driving the car and looking after the tyres,” he said. “Something that he found, and he’s been operating in that balance-wise, and he was able to cope with it already in Baku.”
Last year Perez found that as Red Bull improved the performance of the RB19, it became more difficult for him to drive. He has experienced the same thing this year.
“I think every driver through their career or through each season, you get some upgrades to the car that adapt easier to your driving style than others,” he said. “Sometimes you will put a part in it and you will straight away go faster with it. Sometimes you will have to adapt to it.
“It’s something that we are all facing through our times during the season with the upgrades. And I haven’t been able to adapt as quickly as I should and I had to change my driving style a bit to adapt into the car more than in the beginning of the season, for example, when things were coming more naturally. But that’s something that most drivers at some point we go through.”
Over the 13 grands prix so far this year Perez has only out-qualified Verstappen on merit once so far in Miami. In the rain affected qualifying session at Zandvoort, Perez was 1.3 seconds slower than his team mate. He said the gap was amplified by the damp conditions.
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“In Zandvoort, it was mainly getting the conditions right and exploiting everything out of the car. The differences, if you don’t get the conditions right, you will see a big delta. It’s how it works sometimes.”
Perez downplayed the scale of his deficit in qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix. “We’ve seen with other drivers those sorts of gaps,” he said.
“It’s a long season in F1 and it doesn’t really matter, in my opinion, where we are now, it only matters where we are able to finish and then we can summarise our season in Abu Dhabi.
“Definitely I went through a bit of a tough patch through the middle of the season where I was struggling the most with the car. But I think that’s all behind us and we should be having good races from now on.”
Verstappen could score a record-breaking tenth consecutive grand prix victory this weekend. Perez said people “have to appreciate what Max is doing” in his car.
“The level that he is driving at the moment, it’s extreme. I think the ability he has to perform at his 100-per-cent every single weekend, no matter which conditions he’s driving at. It’s something that is quite hard to see as his team mate.
“It doesn’t really matter what’s happened, whether we have a good margin or bad margins or the car is becoming difficult. He’s been able to extract 100-per-cent, out of him, out of the car, pretty much every weekend.”
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RJ
31st August 2023, 20:54
That’s what makes Verstappen so appealing for so many imo – his honesty. Talk about not beating around the bush. If every driver was like that it would do F1 the world of extra good.
Illusive (@illusive)
1st September 2023, 6:58
He is unique in that he is old school and if he was driving 30 years ago he would be just another bloke but in era of media trained PR machines he is a breath of fresh air.
anon
1st September 2023, 7:36
RJ, on the other hand, have you asked yourself the question of whether it would be in Max’s interests to say anything different? If he were favoured in any way, why would he want to say in public that he was?
MacLeod (@macleod)
1st September 2023, 7:52
Maybe you noticed after Baku the car didn’t change much but Max said he found something (which both drivers confirmed) and since he drives that car very fast. An F1 are fast drivers but the really good ones are the ones who can adapt fast.
anon
1st September 2023, 16:18
And that is nothing to do with the question that I raised, which was to ask what incentive Max would have to say anything other than what he has said here, irrespective of whatever is happening within the team.
Mayrton
1st September 2023, 8:45
Like proper athletes. I wouldn’t want it any other way. It is sports, not world peace or life and death. Why chose any other path than being honest? The performances of all are appreciated and respected anyway, operating at this level. It is perfectly ok to say when things go wrong. Never ever understood the scripted narratives we’ve been served the last decade and it surely didn’t make the characters involved more likeable.
SteveP
1st September 2023, 12:55
Brand management/promotion.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
31st August 2023, 21:49
Adrian will design a car to be fast and nothing else.
Favouritism within the team is another matter however. Seb and Max have always benefitted from that. But this is because they’re (were) the ones to invest in to bring home the goods.
Illusive (@illusive)
1st September 2023, 7:00
Christian Horner is running a successful team because he can make decisions when some other team principle would have be indecisive.
baasbas
31st August 2023, 21:59
Oh no, he gave a straight answer that makes sense! That doesn’t make sense! So he must be lying…
Oh even Perez? Oh poor Perez, he must be confused. Oh no, they probably made him say it, because he is the obvious victim here! #FreePerez
I’m practicing my internet-logic, how am I doing?
Oppie
1st September 2023, 9:10
You need help.
sethje (@seth-space)
1st September 2023, 16:22
There are several people here that could do way better and do so almost every Verstappen topic /S
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
31st August 2023, 23:01
The teams are tickled pink if they can design a fast car. Designing for any one driver’s preferences would be out of the question.
melanos
31st August 2023, 23:33
Max, stop making sense
“Never retract, never explain, never apologize; get things done and let them howl” (Nellie L. McClung)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
31st August 2023, 23:44
Whoever is making such claims has no idea what he’s talking about…
James Bond (@jamesbond)
1st September 2023, 3:38
Charles Darwin showed that those species that adapt best to their changing environment have the best chance of surviving, while those who do not adapt do not make it.
SadF1fan
1st September 2023, 12:28
The problem with quoting Darwin about species is, that Max and Perez are of the same species.
People in the past have made the same mistake and that led to scientific racism, because people were unable to understand Darwin.
Jogo
1st September 2023, 16:38
I think you’re wrong. Same species can have different phenotypes. There is a reason it’s good to be black in Africa, it means whites don’t survive in such conditions (if we talk about long time range) although they can be born, albinos africans for example.
S
1st September 2023, 4:27
Red Bull design a car they think will be fast, they hand it over to their drivers and see how it goes and who likes what about it, and then they’ll focus future development on the aspects of that feedback that align best with their goals as a team.
If that means focusing the development on the driver they prefer (and their unique driving style) then that’s just what they’ll be more than happy to do.
A fast car that nobody can drive isn’t a fast car.
A fast car that the No.2 driver likes but No.1 doesn’t isn’t a fast enough car.
However, a fast car that No.1 likes certainly is a fast car, and also ticks a lot of political and marketing boxes. This is a business, remember – no matter what Verstappen says about it. Red Bull have been playing it this way for over 15 years already, and they aren’t about to stop.
baasbas
1st September 2023, 7:34
@S:
You use a lot of words to say he lied?
S
1st September 2023, 8:10
I used a lot of words to say that he’s an employee of a race team wholly owned by a marketing corporation…
A marketing corporation that has, in their own words, stated that they prioritise the Driver’s Championship over the Constructors Championship as it fits their brand and marketing approach better.
Mayrton
1st September 2023, 8:48
Or “I adapt to what I need for the car to go quick”. Just a thought / consideration..
S
1st September 2023, 9:34
Or, “I don’t need to adapt as much as the other guy does, thanks to my team.”
Facts&Stats
1st September 2023, 9:45
Not a very smart marketing corporation then; Perez as WDC has a much bigger commercial potential than Verstappen.
And according to your (flawed) interpretation they’d go for a Chinese or Indian driver next.
S
1st September 2023, 10:21
They seem to be doing alright.
In Mexico, perhaps. Probably not so much in Europe, though.
If there’s one available who is suitably accomplished and willing to accept No.2 status – they might just do that. It’d be a great move for them financially.
Facts&Stats
1st September 2023, 11:25
Disappointed you missed the obvious sarcasm in my reply.
Let me spell it out for you: Red Bull is extremely experienced in marketing, hence your suggestion that they pick Verstappen over Perez for marketing reasons is nonsense.
If Red Bull wanted the strongest marketing ‘engine’ they’d pick: Hamilton (World Champion, huge following), Ricciardo (liked by everyone; RB had a chance to prioritise him); Perez (great LA potential); Zhou/ChandhokII (potential of billion followers).
Yet Red Bull is sticking with an outspoken (sometimes even loudmouthed), no filter guy from a small country in which Red Bull revenue has probably spiked many years ago.
As Red Bull picked the latter, it’s undoubtedly because of the very traits this driver mentions in the above article.
S
1st September 2023, 12:10
Likewise.
Outside of the Mexican GP, where are the hoards of Perez fans at every event? A handful at Miami and COTA don’t really line up with the masses of orange shirts filling half the track at most European races…
Red Bull is indeed experienced in marketing – so, again, why would they back Perez over Verstappen?
Red Bull wouldn’t pick Hamilton anymore (if they ever really would have) as he’s way too PC and activist. Hamilton is a brand unto himself, and that simply wouldn’t work with Red Bull’s strong marketing of their youthful and slightly edgy image.
Perez is nobody to most people. Zhou/Chandhok (etc) have very limited appeal and both countries are quite (financially) poor – not great markets to sell expensive energy drinks in (China ranked 8th for global energy drinks sales last year, and India isn’t even in the top 10).
If we are looking at nationality, Red Bull wants a US driver, as that market consumes more than double the second highest consuming country (UK) and more than Russia, China, France, Mexico, Indonesia and Germany’s combined total per-capita.
Verstappen is divisive, no doubt – that’s exactly what a lot of people like about him and what Red Bull want as their image. He attracts lots of attention with his strong opinions, but without offending his employers.
A lot of people are well and truly done with marketing filters (often self-) applied to sportspeople, and Verstappen doesn’t feel so constrained by this aspect. You see it here all the time, with people commenting about how glad they are that he says what he wants to say – even if they don’t necessarily agree with the content.
He’s a great driver, for sure – but that’s not the only reason he’s in the position he currently enjoys.
Facts&Stats
2nd September 2023, 7:40
I didn’t miss it; you should’ve noticed in the way I replied.
PS ‘likewise’ is a bit childish, and it’s well known that children don’t get sarcasm ;)
But don’t get upset, this is meant TiC as well, and I do appreciate the well thought through arguments you raise. I disagree with your interpretation of some facts though, but this is not the place to continue that discussion.
MichaelN
1st September 2023, 9:35
It’s not lying if he believes it to be true.
However, once the car is made, engineers will then adapt or develop a car based on data and feedback generated in the race weekends. That data is always influenced by the fact that the cars are driven by just two people. It colours the data, and any subsequent development is influenced by it, to however small a degree. But this is a business where tenths of a second matter a lot.
SteveP
1st September 2023, 12:38
Isn’t that the Trump defence? I think that’s been thoroughly debunked.
SteveP
1st September 2023, 8:25
This. Exactly this.
The car was designed fast, they both seemed to like it equally, and then the team modified it to enhance parameters that Max liked.
It might be that he gives feedback that the team understand better, it might be that Max and Jos say it louder, whichever way around the result is a car that suits Max better.
sethje (@seth-space)
1st September 2023, 16:26
that made the car faster.
Thats called development on of the points RBR excels in.
tielemst
1st September 2023, 10:07
I think you’re oversimplifying the process here. You’re forgetting Newey, a design department, huge amounts of development and sim data and wind tunnels. Data will come first, their own and the comparison with their rivals. Then it all has to fit in the design of the car, and tested in the wind tunnel and on the sim (which is probably not driven by Max). I think it’s very improbable that they program driver preferences in the simulation models to test new designs or parts.
Or is the only reason Mercedes let Lewis do all the testing of new ideas last year that they only wanted to develop a car suited to his driving style and not to George’s? The great drivers get the updates and work with them. Lewis can do it, Fernando can do it, Max can do it. Sergio can’t (or not as well in any case).
This was Verstappen’s answer to a question related to the remarks of Toto who couldn’t understand the gap between the drivers. He, among others, refuses to answer the question that’s in the back of his mind for some time now while the answer right in front of them. “Is he really THAT good?”
S
1st September 2023, 10:47
I didn’t forget that at all. They are most definitely the bulk of the development process.
They are, however, inevitably tied to the data coming from just two drivers who naturally drive differently and want different things from the car. That is also in the data, and they invariably have to choose which one to give preference to to determine what they develop and in which direction it will go.
Why wouldn’t they? They know quite well what they are developing and what effect it will have on each driver.
They aren’t just blindly making cars based on simulated driving performance. They know what each driver wants and roughly how much performance each development equates to, based entirely on the data they’ve already collected from those exact drivers.
It wouldn’t be the only reason, but it would absolutely be a factor. He is their lead driver, and the one they are paying magnitudes more to produce results… Just like Verstappen has become, Hamilton is a marketing gold mine.
Additionally, they have a decade worth of data on Hamilton’s driving style, and the first thing they needed to do last year was make a real car that replicated their virtual one. Best way to do that is to use the same driver.
But what exactly do those updates do to the car handling and balance? How does that influence the relationship between car and driver? How much confidence does the car give the driver?
Not all updates make the car inherently faster for every driver.
Toto’s already come to the conclusion that Hamilton is THAT good and more – the best ever. He’s said it many times.
However, if Wolff were the boss of Red Bull he’d be saying it about Verstappen instead.
tielemst
1st September 2023, 11:17
This is of course true, but the conclusion that the car is then developed for the Verstappen style of driving is incorrect IMO. The team will obviously look at the lap times. So a development works if the car goes faster around the track. Apparently (obviously even) Max gets the improvements and improves performance, so they’ll keep the improvements. Checo can’t get (the same level of) improvemnt out of the updates so the gap between them grows. Of course it is possible that Checo doesn’t have an opinion in developing the car further, or that his suggestions simply don’t work. The suggestion though (not necessarily by you) that they are somehow discarded because he’s Checo and not Max (the golden boy) is not how a team gets to the top of the heap and stays there.
In the end I think Max can wish for a heavy front braking car all he wants, but if it’s not compatible with the car design he won’t get it.
Craig
1st September 2023, 6:39
Pull the other one.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
1st September 2023, 7:52
I don’t doubt that Red Bull’s goal is to make the fastest car possible, therefore I agree with Verstappen’s claims. There is NO conspiracy to slow Perez down. However, only laptimes prove that a fast car is fast. So a fast car needs a driver that can drive the car fast. In other words, a driver who has the talent but also the confidence and the feeling to drive the car fast. So let’s say that Verstappen manage to pull an extra tenth out of the car by a set up change but Perez cannot for one of the reasons above, then by objective measures the car is still faster AND the car suits Verstappen at the same time. No conspiracy, no hidden agenda, just the fastest car-driver combination.
Facts&Stats
1st September 2023, 9:46
But how then to fill the comment pages?
slowmo (@slowmo)
1st September 2023, 10:03
He’s not wrong in the sense that when the car is designed on paper, they cannot guarantee the end result will have all the traits that are desirable for one driver. Whatever car you start the year with is not designed for one particular driver. How that car develops over the year though will be with the input from your drivers and that will steer some development and setup of the car towards what they need to make it faster. In that sense if one drivers input is prioritized over another then eventually the car you finish the year with will likely favour one of your drivers more than the other.
What you tend to find in F1 though is the best drivers find ways to drive around issues. It looks very much like Perez just doesn’t have the ability to manage whatever negative aspects they have in their car like Verstappen does. I don’t think they’re designing the car to suit Verstappen more, I just think Perez doesn’t have the ability to adapt his driving style to get the most of the package (possibly similar to Ricciardo with the McLaren).
baasbas
1st September 2023, 10:49
It doesn’t matter what he says, it’s just like with any other topic these days, climate, racism, feminism, etc.
People with preconceived ideas will always bend whatever information that conflicts with those ideas to make it align. Or if it can’t be bent, they’ll just reject it.
It happens here as well. The guy that knows best says how it is; he asks for “just give me the fastest car possible”.
The other guy who is supposed to be the victim in this admits he found something in the car.
And now scroll through this thread and see the cognitive dissonance wreak havoc
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
1st September 2023, 10:59
Calling that b*******,
he’s talking b*******.
sethje (@seth-space)
1st September 2023, 16:27
he’s talking b*******
bullfrog?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
1st September 2023, 17:21
b*******, not b*******.
RR
1st September 2023, 11:10
Monaco 2023 was a painful reminder of Perez’s limitations.
That circuit must be retained at any price. It is essential for F1.
SteveP
1st September 2023, 12:13
All the talk about not designing the car to match a driver is talking b*******
Think back to Nikki Lauder’s comments about Mercedes having the “best package” and including Hamilton in the package. Not sitting in “the package”, actually being part of the package.
RBR are using the best parts currently available to them to create a package. Why would they make the car anything other than the best fit to their #1 driver? It would be like fitting a US threaded screw into a metric nut, probably-sorta-fits but not very well.
Perez in the current development of the RBR: “probably-sorta-fits but not very well”
How good is the car? Well, someone who probably-sorta-fits can put it in front of two multiple world champions on most occasions.
How good is Verstappen? Good enough to nearly beat Hamilton without intervention from Massi.
sethje (@seth-space)
1st September 2023, 16:30
nope het beat him fair and square on track.
Masi of better the safety car, only created the occasion.
Mercedes did not changed tires and the rest is history.
A well deserved WDC there!
SteveP
1st September 2023, 19:08
Nope. Broken rules brought up a “restart” a lap earlier than it could possibly have legally occurred.
Illegally created a situation that allowed a car to catch up to within DRS distance – something MV never achieved at any point in the race prior to the illegal actions by Massi – there is a reason he lost the job.
No need to do that as the race distance was going to complete before the restart – if legally done.
Nope. Total travesty. Alonso at Singapore pales by comparison.
AlanD
1st September 2023, 18:24
It is interesting to see how both Max and Horner are calling it a BS theory, and misquoting what Wolff said. Wolff said he couldn’t explain the gap between MV and Perez, and said that Max seems to have the ability to create a car around himself, a car which is very tricky to drive but he is able to overcome that and drive it very fast. Clearly he was talking about the mental attirude of the driver in getting into the equipment he was provided with, inderstanding it, and taking ownership of the driving of it. That is a compliment to Max’s abilities as a driver. He clearly wasn’t saying that Red Bull had built the car around Max, but it sounds like Red Bull’s psyche department saw an opportunity to present it as that, so that they could feign offense, get under the Mercedes skin, and roll out the party line that Mercedes are talking bull. Which a lot of people have bought into because so many people are discussing what RBR have told them that Wolff said rather than what Wolff actually said.
SteveP
1st September 2023, 19:12
I’m not one to defend” Hans Christian Horner” but in this instance I believe the situation is that a journalist misquoted Wollf as part of a leading question, and Christian reacted, thereafter it’s all down to the Red Bull**** machine.
AlanD
1st September 2023, 19:44
Thanks for the clarification Steve. I have more sympathy now for Red Bull, knowing they were responding to misinformation rather than spinning it themselves.