Max Verstappen reveals the one thing that makes him more nervous than driving an F1 car

Verstappen smirking in a Verstappen.com jacket during his gt appearance at the Nurburgring — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

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Max Verstappen reveals the one thing that makes him more nervous than driving an F1 car

Max Verstappen owns a GT Racing team

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 26 February 2026 10:57

Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has revealed the one thing that makes him more nervous than racing in F1.

Verstappen has been the dominant force in F1 over the past few years, rising up to third in the all-time list of grand prix victors, and claiming four consecutive championships between 2021-2024.

His monopoly on the drivers' championship ended in 2025, when Lando Norris beat him to the title by just two points.

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But throughout 2025, Verstappen still claimed eight grand prix victories despite his Red Bull car clearly lacking compared to McLaren's machinery, while he also claimed a victory on his GT3 debut at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Verstappen has many racing interests outside of F1, including sim racing, and he also owns a GT Racing team, Verstappen.com Racing.

That team entered into the GT World Challenge Europe Gold Cup in 2025, with drivers Thierry Vermeulen, Harry King, and Chris Lulham - who comes from a sim racing background - able to pick up Gold Cup success in the series.

Now, in a clip on his Instagram account advertising the latest episode of Viaplay's documentary about the Dutchman, Verstappen can be seen taking on his team boss duties, watching his good friend Lulham on track from the pit wall.

"When I watch Chris racing, I'm probably more nervous in the car than I ever am in the car myself," Verstappen says. "Because once you're in control you know what you're doing."

Will Verstappen become an F1 team principal one day?

Verstappen has recently revealed that he wants his team to compete in the pro car level of the championship in the coming years, revealing that his GT Racing project is getting 'bigger and better'.

"Yeah, it's becoming more and more serious," Verstappen recently told Red Bull's YouTube channel. "We entered this year not as a pro car but in the Gold Cup and one of the drivers came from the sim racing world so for me to put him immediately in the pro car championship was probably a bit much.

"But I always say that we do compare ourselves with them in terms of lap time, that's the target. We won the Gold Cup championship which was our target starting the year and I think throughout then year the drivers made some nice steps forward, really understanding how to overcome difficulties with the car balance.

"Next year we want to be in the pro championship basically, we're changing cars, you will find out soon, but yeah it's getting bigger and better."

With the Dutchman constantly reiterating his desire to retire from F1 racing earlier than the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, could we see his team boss personality converted to F1?

It's clear that he's a man who takes his racing very seriously.

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