Max Verstappen reveals truth about a long-standing Red Bull F1 car theory

Max Verstappen has set the record straight on a long-standing theory that Red Bull’s F1 cars are built to suit his driving style.

The Dutchman has held the upper hand over his Red Bull teammates since 2019, and in that time has racked up 60 victories and four world championship titles.

Despite Red Bull’s performance struggles this season, Verstappen has still outclassed his teammates Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda and been responsible for 187 points out of the team’s tally of 194.

The struggles of his teammates over recent years have been well documented, leading to suggestions that Red Bull have tailor-made their cars for Verstappen’s preferences.

But that is a theory Verstappen has now poured cold water on.

“I just adapt to what I’ve got. It’s not what I like, it’s just what I have,” he told former Top Gear host Chris Harris on the Ford Performance YouTube channel.

“So I have to try and drive to it because that’s the fastest way to go around the track, but it’s not what I personally would like.

“I’d like different bits of the car.”

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache insisted the team did not intend to develop last year’s RB20 specifically for Verstappen.

“It wasn’t our intention to develop [the RB20] specifically for Max. But as a driver, he can cope with less connected balance,” Wache said last year.

“To make a quick car, by definition you go towards this. You still have the possibility to create an understeery car, but it would be slower. Our job is to move away from this and then use the set-up to make it quicker.”

Verstappen’s former teammate Alex Albon previously compared the Red Bull’s handling as being like a sensitive computer cursor.

“The first thing is, a lot of people say that car is built around him, he’s kind of like the Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, he’s created this team around him,” Albon said in an appearance on the High Performance Podcast at the end of 2023.

“Truthfully, the car is what it is, he is very quick, so what ends up happening is… He has quite a unique driving style, it’s not that easy to get along with.

“Everyone has a driving style, I would say my driving style is a bit more on the smooth side, but I like a car that has a good front-end, so quite sharp, quite direct. Max does too, but his level of sharp and direct is a whole different level – it’s eye-wateringly sharp.

“To give people kind of maybe an explanation of what that might feel like, if you bump up the sensitivity [on a computer game] completely to the max and you move that mouse and it’s just darting across the screen everywhere, that’s kind of how it feels. It becomes so sharp that it makes you a little bit tense.”

Max Verstappen the ‘perfectionist’

Despite being seemingly out of world championship contention, Verstappen has still been able to turn in some outstanding performances in 2025.

Verstappen’s pole positions in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Miami and Silverstone were sublime, while he is the only non-McLaren driver to win this year, claiming victories at Suzuka and Imola.

But Verstappen said it is rare when he is completely satisfied with his efforts and described himself as being “quite a perfectionist”.

“I’m not doing it to show the people what I’m capable of,” Verstappen stressed. “I’m doing it because I want to be the best with myself.

“I’m quite… in that sense [I’m] quite a perfectionist, it’s never good enough and if I can, of course, come out of the car and say to myself ‘that’s pretty good’, it’s never good enough, but pretty good.”