Infamous ‘Mad Max’ Verstappen Public Image is ‘Unjustified’

Max Verstappen is slowly becoming one of the greats in F1. He has won 26 races so far and also has a world championship to his name. Red Bull Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey regards the Dutch driver as one of the best in the sport. In doing so, he also opens up about the defending champion’s true nature.

Newey, who has designed some of the most iconic and dominant cars in F1 history, reveals he does not understand why everyone believes Verstappen to be an angry driver. The Brit mentioned he has a contrary opinion of the Dutchman and called him calm and relaxed.

Looking through the roster of champions Newey created, the mastermind gets candid about the new name on his list. He said, “It’s unfair to compare drivers from slightly different eras, but Max is right up there. I think this image of the aggressive driver is over-egged. Perhaps in his early races in F1, he was quite aggressive, but last season that was unjustified.”

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“He’s very calm generally, very measured. He has tremendous reflexes and is a pleasure to work with.”

Newey also described one other quality that he finds in every top-quality driver that Verstappen also happens to have.

Red Bull CTO reveals the one special quality of Max Verstappen

The Red Bull CTO has worked with several world champions, like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen, and Sebastian Vettel. He mentioned Verstappen is in that category and shares a very specific quality with them. The Dutch driver is excellent at communicating with the team and the engineers in the garage.

“Great drivers — and I’d put Max in that category — know what they want from the car and know how to communicate with their race engineer as to what they want and how to achieve it,” said the Red Bull CTO.

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Verstappen is continuing to impress everyone with his skills and talent after each race weekend. The way he gets the most performance from the car and gives his all on the track really catches the eye and amazes the fans.

It would be intriguing to see when it is all said and done, where the Dutch driver stands in F1 history. But looking at his current form, the sky is the limit for the young driver, with his dominance only just beginning.