Max Verstappen entourage unleashes savage dig at F1 ahead of Japanese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen will return to the scene of one of his greatest F1 triumphs this weekend, but this time the results are unlikely to be nearly as positive.

The early part of the 2025 season was mainly pain for the four-time world champion as he struggled to get to grips with his Red Bull car. He was more than 100 points off the pace in the title race by the time the summer break arrived.

During that first half though there were moments when Verstappen showed just why he is arguably the finest driver on the grid - notably in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Despite driving a Red Bull which was clearly inferior to the mighty McLarens of eventual world champion Lando Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri, Max first claimed pole and then somehow held off the papaya pair for a stunning victory.

Fast forward 12 months and Verstappen is now struggling with issues which appear to be altogether less fixable - notably the new regulations sweeping into the sport in 2026.

The Dutch great has been extremely vocal about his belief that F1 now is all about battery management and not driving fast. ‘Formula E on steroids’ as he put it during pre-season testing.

Verstappen will arrive at Suzuka - one of the sport’s most iconic and testing circuits - on the back of a horror weekend in China, and things do not seem likely to be much better.

While Verstappen’s story is just one part of the F1 narrative this season, there are many observers who fear what the optics will be like for the sport this weekend. We will get a close-up look at how the new regulations impact the visual product at one of the finest circuits around.

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Battery management, at Suzuka

One man who clearly fears that product will be severely affected is Verstappen Sim Racing stream manager Luke Crane. He took a pretty savage jab at the way the sport is heading as race week kicked off in Japan.

Writing on his X account, Crane said: "Looks like F1 is trying to make the sport interesting via liveries. At least it will be nice to look at, at the very least.”

Crane was speaking about a handful of new colourways that will be on the grid this weekend - including an epic Godzilla-themed livery. But once we had satire out of the way, he referenced something that will bring much more pain to F1 fans.

“Cannot wait for battery management through the esses.”

Those esses from Turn 3 to Turn 7 provide one of the most iconic stretches of F1 track in history. But this year drivers are likely to be slower though that area, as well as when they tackle the brutal challenge that is the 130R corner.

We will find out from Friday onwards just how much slower drivers will be, and just how much fans and observers will notice.

For Verstappen it is likely to be a frustrating weekend again, one which makes him (and so many others) yearn for how things used to be.

Verstappen at Fuji, in a Nissan

Verstappen comes to Japan on the back of a weekend away from F1, as he first won NLS2 in a Mercedes at the Nurburgring, before being disqualified for a tyre infraction.

Max appeared to again be in a GT3 car on Tuesday as social media posts showed him driving a Nissan Z NISMO GT500 (in Red Bull livery of course) around another iconic Japanese circuit - Fuji Speedway - in the rain.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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