F1 insider reveals what Max Verstappen is REALLY like at Red Bull

Max Verstappen

F1 insider reveals what Max Verstappen is REALLY like at Red Bull

Max Verstappen may well leave Red Bull at the end of this season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 14 July 2026 15:56

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A Red Bull F1 insider has revealed what four-time world champion Max Verstappen is like to work with.

Verstappen has been at Red Bull since midway through the 2016 season, and has moulded the outfit around him, becoming the team's outright star in 2018 when Daniel Ricciardo left, before going on to win four world championship titles.

He has won 71 grands prix for Red Bull, and that number could well continue to rise with his current contract not up at the team until the 2028 season.

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However, Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen recently revealed that there are exit clauses in that contract, and the team's inability to give Verstappen a championship-contending car in 2026 has led to tension at grand prix weekends.

After crashing out of the British Grand Prix last time out, Verstappen even described his RB22 as 'dangerous' to drive.

But one Red Bull insider is not concerned that this tension will boil over, saying that Verstappen is very respectful and treats everyone in the team equally.

Matt Majendie is an F1 journalist who spent a lot of time with the Red Bull team, with his experiences now being documented in a book titled Inside Red Bull Racing: A season with F1's most thrilling team.

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Red Bull insider describes Verstappen as a colleague

"If you see him within their hospitality bit for the race weekend, he is I mean this as complimentary as I can, he is just a really normal guy, incredibly humble, down to earth, very gracious, and doesn't matter if he's dealing with the owners of the team to the lesser members of the team," Majendie told the Road to Success podcast.

"He treats everyone equally, and that was what I was impressed by. That you've got this absolute superstar who is an aggressive, hard nosed racer, but then when it comes down to it, just this lovely guy that the mechanics talk a lot about. They absolutely worship him. They'll do anything for him. He's one of the boys. They're very tight knit, and also this incredibly humorous guy.

"So the Max Verstappen we see on TV, whether it's Drive to Survive or race weekend, we see this racer, and maybe it changed a bit last season. We're seeing now this warmer personality, this very funny guy, and I think in the British media maybe we've shaped him as this nemesis to Lewis Hamilton and then to Lando Norris and George Russell, for example.

"But actually, people are beginning to realise his absolute brilliance, and also there's more to him than just a racer."

It remains to be seen how much longer that Verstappen-Red Bull partnership will continue, with McLaren being rumoured to be lining up a move for the four-time champion.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen