Max Verstappen's meteoric career is elevating him to superstar status. He'd rather keep his feet on the ground.
As rain soaked the empty paddock on the Thursday before the Belgian Grand Prix in late July, Red Bull’s Energy Station bustled with life.Interviews and marketing campaigns unfolded on various floors and the bottom level echoed with conversations between team personnel and visitors. AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo recited lines for some filmed content on one side of a higher floor, a clear view of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps’out the window beside him.
Verstappen doesn’t like warm drinks, and though he is often seen with a Red Bull can nearby, he only drinks a few a day. He is strongly against pineapple pizza and doesn’t eat much fruit; he’s more of a chicken, veggie and quinoa person. He doesn’t go to the supermarket much anymore, and not just because so many people stop him to ask for pictures. “It’s dangerous that I go because I just load everything in it, and it’s not good for my weight,” Verstappen said.
“He’s a normal person that is very feet on the ground,” said Red Bull technical director Pierre Waché. “He loves driving.”What’s perhaps most impressive about Verstappen’s ability to retain a semblance of normalcy is the fact that racing is the only world Verstappen has known — and one he has thrived in.
“Realistically, when I was like 14, 15, at one point, you are away so much that it’s really hard to combine,” Verstappen said to. “It’s either you go all in on your racing, or you go all in to go to school.” Since making his choice, Verstappen said, he hasn’t thought much about what he’d be doing now if he’d stuck with academics. “I really hated so much.”
Verstappen only competed in F3 for that season before leaping to F1 in 2015, becoming the youngest ever F1 driver when he joined Toro Rosso at 17 years old, the youngest points scorer in his second race and the youngest grand prix winner at 18.What does it take to be at the top? A talented driver and a standout car.
Verstappen is honest and straightforward, not just in interviews but in meetings with engineers, and doesn’t “hide any emotion,” Waché said. Over the years, the technical director has seen Verstappen become more patient regarding how reactive the team can be to feedback. But his communication style is also easily misunderstood, according to Kerkhof.
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