► We spoke to Verstappen ahead of the Silverstone 2025 GP
► We chat F1, endurance racing and more
► Is he the most misunderstood driver on the grid?

In September 2025, Max Verstappen won the Monza Grand Prix against two faster McLaren cars – and in the same month he also took his first step to competing in the Nurburgring 24 endurance race. Ahead of all that, we spoke to him on the Silverstone GP weekend. Keep reading for the full interview.

We speak to Verstappen at the British GP

Max Verstappen cuts a relaxed, if not exhausted, figure on the eve of British GP weekend. Red Bull cap on, chatting to me in a glassy, open space high in the team’s Energy Station hospitality unit, the Dutchman is mentally braced for a tough weekend – and questions from yet another British journalist.

Last year he was batting away questions about the departure of Adrian Newey or his revolving door of team-mates. Today we’re asking him about rumours of a sensational move to Mercedes in 2026. Days later, team principal Christian Horner will be sacked.

For most drivers, this would be a distraction. For Verstappen, it’s background noise. Come Saturday, he puts his RB21 on pole – ahead of crowd favourites Norris, Hamilton and Russell. Max under pressure, Max performing. It’s the kind of display that demands respect.

For years, Verstappen has been easy to dislike – too fast, too brash, too blunt and too entitled. But it’s hard to see that Verstappen – the Max of questionable on-track moves and radio tirades – here in this room. What if he’s changed? Or what if we got him wrong all along?

Wait. Is Max one of the good guys?

‘It’s just instinct,’ Verstappen tells me, recalling his move on Oscar Piastri at Imola. ‘You see the moment evolve and it’s just like a split second – okay, I’m doing it.’ For Verstappen, instinct and decision-making are one and the same. ‘It’s very hard to explain,’ he shrugs. “Experience comes into play… You trust yourself to make the right call – if it’s possible or not.” For Max, it usually is.

Since his debut win at Barcelona in 2016, Verstappen’s conduct on and off track hasn’t always been ideal, but the seasons since have swept away questions about his talent: from a charge through the field at Spa 2022 to a wet-weather masterclass at Brazil 2024, his career glitters with legendary drives. No wonder Toto Wolff wants him.

‘The pressure was on, I had to perform, I had to try and not lose points,’ he says, recalling Interlagos 2024. Starting P17, compared to championship rival Norris starting first, Verstappen had it all to do. ‘I knew that it was going to be a tough race, but we got locked in,’ he says.

Of his recent drive on the Nürburgring, he says, now getting more animated: ‘It was really nice, to get out there finally in real life. I’ve done thousands of laps on the simulator around there. It was great to get out there with the GT3 car and have some fun.’

But what makes a four-time world champion log laps on a sim rig? “It’s competition,” he shrugs. ‘You’re racing others, constantly trying to improve. You work on set-up, look at data, go through strategy. You’re defending, overtaking, doing pitstops.’

These feel like the words of a motorsport fan – not the words of a four-time world champion. But Max is both.

He’s interested in competing in other motorsports, but they’ll have to wait until after F1. ‘I would like to do it, but it’s a little bit too difficult to combine with F1. Let’s see in the future if it’s possible.’

Back to 2025, though, and Max is having a tough time. The RB21 is the first Red Bull not designed by Adrian Newey in years – and it shows.

What if we got Max all wrong?

Silverstone proves to be one of the toughest races of the year, a week after he was taken out by teenage prodigy Kimi Antonelli in Austria. And yet, it’s hard to see the Max of questionable on-track moves and radio tirades here in this room.

So what does Max think? ‘Every driver has had a moment where they’ve locked up or misjudged the situation,” Max says. “Life goes on – and I try not to make too much of a scene out of it. We get on very well. He’s a great kid. But also, mistakes happen.’

It’s hard not to see a bit of Max in Antonelli – a teen hailed as the future, dropped into F1 with all the weight of expectation. Maybe Max is mellowing. Or maybe he’s the only one who truly understands Antonelli’s world.

Four titles later, Max is in a different space. ‘I’ve got nothing to prove,’ he shrugs. ‘I just want to keep winning. Actually, I want to win more – but there’s not another goal I’m chasing. I just want to do the same thing.’

With Red Bull losing talent and performance, speculation over his next move will only intensify. Did Newey’s departure make him less likely to stay? Does Horner’s departure make him less likely to go?

Before we wrap, I ask about Tag Heuer – the Red Bull partner that facilitated this chat. It’s now the official timekeeper of Formula 1.

‘What I really enjoyed was going to Switzerland and seeing how they make the watches,’ says Max, now in a slightly more media-trained tone. While he talks about the personalised Monaco he’s wearing, I can’t help but think of something else he said earlier:

‘I just enjoy the driving part, it’s what I grew up wanting to do. I know that with F1 growing, some other bits come with it, so you must accept that. But my joy still comes from sitting in the car, and just getting the most out of it.’

In 2025, F1 comes with more scrutiny, more questions and more stress than ever before. But strip away the four titles, the Drive to Survive drama and the dysfunctional team, and Max is one of the greatest to ever sit behind a wheel. What’s not to like about that?