Max Verstappen sets record straight on theory RB21 only built for him
Max Verstappen had a trying weekend in Hungary
Max Verstappen has put to rest speculation Red Bull’s F1 cars are designed to suit him; they’re not, he’s just able to “adapt to what I’ve got.”
Verstappen has dominated Red Bull’s standings in recent years, winning 60 grands prix and four World titles since 2019, while his five team-mates are on five wins and zero titles between them.
Max Verstappen does not have the Red Bull he wants
The Dutchman has been Red Bull’s star driver, carrying the team to four successive Drivers’ and three Constructors’ titles.
But while Verstappen has romped from one to the next World Championship, his team-mates have faltered – and been sacked – with only Sergio Perez adding to the team’s win tally.
It has led to speculation that Red Bull’s F1 cars are specifically designed to suit the Dutchman’s “unique”, as Alex Albon put it, driving style.
Going on to explain that Verstappen likes a car with a sharp front end, Albon said: “It’s a level of sharp and direct is a whole different level. It’s eye-wateringly sharp.
“To give people 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.”
The team has denied this with technical director Pierre Wache adamant the only goal is to make a quick car.
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“It wasn’t our intention to develop specifically for Max,” he said last year. “But as a driver he can cope with less connected balance.
“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.”
In the midst of a season in which Verstappen has scored 187 points of Red Bull’s 194, the 27-year-old says the RB21 is not the car that he wants, he’s just able to adapt better than his team-mates.
“I just adapt to what I’ve got. It’s not what I like, it’s just what I have,” he said while speaking with 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 on the car.”
Asked whether he was therefore happy when the world applauded his performances, the driver said: “Of course it does, but I’m not doing it to show the people what I’m capable of.
“I’m doing it because I want to be the best with myself.
“I’m quite in that sense 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 good enough’, it’s never good enough, but pretty good.”
Pressed on whether he felt that way about any of his performances, he replied: “I’ve had a few laps that were pretty good.”
He then pointed to his Q3 at Jeddah in 2024, that his first run in Q3 was “I came back in the box and ‘s**t’, I don’t think I can do that again.’
“I didn’t go faster in the second run so I couldn’t do it again.”
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