F1 star admits being given expletive race demand by Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen talks into an ESPN mic — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star admits being given expletive race demand by Max Verstappen

Verstappen's word carries a lot of weight!

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Friday 14 November 2025 12:53

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One of Max Verstappen's F1 rivals has revealed the expletive demand the reigning champion gave him after sharing a race strategy ahead of a recent grand prix.

The Dutchman currently has four drivers' titles to his name and is fighting hard against the McLaren driver duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to try and pick up a fifth consecutive championship in 2025.

His tight battles with the papaya pair will remain the talk of the paddock as the season reaches its highly anticipated conclusion, but it hasn't all been trash talk and rivalries for the Dutchman this year as his friendship with Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto has blossomed.

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The Brazilian driver has found a key ally in Verstappen across his rookie campaign, turning to him on numerous occasions for guidance on how to navigate the sport following on from his F2 title win in 2024.

Despite being at entirely different stages of their careers, Bortoleto and Verstappen share many common interests, and the pair recently appeared on the Pelas Pistas Podcast to talk F1, sim racing and everything in between.

Bortoleto shares amusing Verstappen strategy talks

In their recent interview, Bortoleto revealed the X-rated response Verstappen gave him when talking tactics over dinner ahead of this year's Mexican GP.

After earning Verstappen's permission to share the story on the podcast, Bortoleto gestured to the reigning champion, saying: "We went to have dinner the night before Mexico and I came up with the idea in my mind that I wanted to start on the soft. I was like, 'I want to start on the soft because softer compound, I want to make some moves in T1... and he [Verstappen] was like, 'don't f*****g do that! You're going to cook your tyres in five laps.'"

The Brazilian then laughed at just how heavily he had relied on Verstappen's advice, adding: "I wake up the next morning and I'm like...medium."

"Then with the engineers it's the same thing, I arrived and I was just like, 'I think I'll go with the medium,' the guy looked at me like, 'but I've prepared, three hours getting the tyres ready for you!'"

Verstappen then explained the moment that led him to question whether he had perhaps given out unhelpful advice to his friend in Mexico City, saying: "When I lined up and my engineer was like, 'everybody around you is on soft' I'm like... [Verstappen then pulled a rather amusing surprised face], or we are incredibly smart, or we are incredibly stupid to not understand that the soft was really good!

"But it worked out well because at the end of the day, the longest stint had to be then on the longest tyre for most really and we survived in the first stint to be on the worst tyre of the two and then in the second stint, good pace, better grip, can make some moves. For me at least, some of the guys in front of me were doing a two stop so they moved out of the way so it was definitely the faster way of doing the race I think."

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