Max Verstappen Answers F1 Driver Questions

WIRED

Red Bull Racing driver and Formula 1 star Max Verstappen joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about being an F1 driver. How different is each Formula 1 car? Why do F1 drivers have to be physically fit? How do drivers train? What's the most exciting track to drive on? Which of his career victories stands out in Max Verstappen's memory? Answers to these questions and more await on Formula 1 Driver Support.  0:00 F1 Driver Support With Max Verstappen 0:12 When is the best time to pit? 0:29 Do F1 drivers watch footage of each other? 1:07 Overtaking 1:23 The most exciting F1 track, statistically 1:45 Wet race blues 2:19 USA &lt;3 F1 2:50 A good driver vs. A great driver 3:09 Verstappen’s biggest weakness 3:24 Why do F1 Drivers need to be physically fit? 3:46 Mental Preparations 4:11 Bless you! 4:32 How different is each Formula 1 car? 4:55 Long straws 5:17 Why do F1 drivers eat ice? 5:27 Weight loss 5:41 How do drivers get into Formula 1? 6:04 F1 Memories 6:16 When you’ve gotta go… 6:29 Then vs. Now 6:46 Reaction time 7:05 Seeing through the halo 7:17 F1 GOAT 7:31 How do drivers train? 8:01 Undercut/overcut 8:50 Putting in the hours 9:27 Greatest Verstappen W 9:47 2026 F1 Cars 10:16 Best F1 rule change

Transcript

00:00I'm Max Steppen and today I'll be answering your questions from the internet.

00:04This is F1 Driver Support.

00:07So, when is the best time to pit?

00:14In our team together with Oracle we run over 8 billion simulations before the race basically

00:21starts.

00:22So it gives us a lot of opportunities to make sure that we have the right strategy out there

00:27and know when to pit basically.

00:29Do F1 drivers watch endless hours of tapes of each other in car film of other drivers

00:34like football players do?

00:35I mean we do look at on boards of even other drivers, yourself, you do look back sometimes

00:41on the years before but the thing is that also the F1 cars every year they change and sometimes

00:47with that the balance changes, the weather has a massive influence as well, the wind direction

00:53has a big influence so yes you can learn a little bit of it sometimes or you can use

00:57it as a little bit of a reference to start but then it's very important to basically

01:02just go off what you learn throughout the weekend and then just try and optimize it from there.

01:06What's your best advice to improve your overtaking ability?

01:09Well practice a lot, I mean practice makes perfect if that's in the real world, the virtual world,

01:16the more you race you know the more you you come into these kind of situations where you have to

01:20either defend or overtake.

01:22Asking F1, which track statistically is the most exciting? Overtakes, accidents, flags,

01:29pits of the weather, drama and unexpected winners consistently?

01:32I guess Baku maybe? I think of the history of F1 probably is a bit unexpected with stuff,

01:38you know exactly like it's all spelled out there. A lot can happen there, good or bad.

01:44Wet races are boring, cars are slow and there is no racing, the only entertainment is driver mistakes.

01:49Sir or ma'am, you are an idiot. Wet races are not boring, cars are not slow and there is racing most of

01:58the time. That's definitely not the only entertainment, the driver mistakes, so I very heavily disagree.

02:05You like them?

02:06I like them, yeah. I mean I like wet races, dry races. It also depends a lot on how much rain,

02:13when it comes in, start of the race, middle of the race, stuff like that. They can be very entertaining.

02:18What's up with the new F1 obsession in the USA? What's up with that?

02:25I guess, you know, having a series on Netflix helped a lot. Also throughout Covid, you know,

02:31people being more aware of what's going on, you know, especially when you were

02:34mainly sitting at home, right? You couldn't really do much. That definitely helped a lot. And then of

02:39course, I think also the ownership has really pushed it, of course, to have three races in the US,

02:44showing more awareness for the sport here. So I think all those things definitely help.

02:49What is the biggest difference between a good driver and a great one?

02:53I think the difference between a good one and a great one is to be, first of all,

02:57consistently performing well, especially when the pressure is on, you know, to get the best out of

03:03yourself. You know, these kind of moments really define, I think, the difference between a good and

03:07a great driver.

03:07What is Max Verstappen's biggest weakness and in what way does it affect his performances,

03:12if at all? Well, I will never tell you. No, you will never say something like that about yourself,

03:19even if you know what it is. You try to work on it and that's it.

03:23Why do F1 drivers need to be physically fit? Well, like in any other proper sport,

03:29if you're not fit, you can't perform at your very best. You know, within those one and a half hours

03:34as well in the race, there are a lot of forces on your body and you need to make sure that you're

03:39not busy trying to hold on to the car and basically, yeah, be fit enough to drive the car and be busy

03:44with other stuff as well. Does anyone know about the mental preparations the drivers do to stay on top

03:49of their game? It depends on the driver, you know, some do more than others. Some keep it very simple,

03:56some need to do a whole different kind of prep before they jump in the car. I'm probably on the

04:02least side of things where, you know, you do a bit of warm up for your muscles and stuff and

04:06tiny reaction games, but you can also easily just sit in the car and go. You know how driving and

04:12sneezing at the same time is horrific for that split second. What do F1 drivers do? How can they

04:16sneeze and drive? It doesn't really happen that often. I think for me it only happened really,

04:22I think when you're a bit ill then it can happen, but yeah you have to deal with it. I mean it's

04:27like what half a second, a second that it's not nice, but it can happen. How different is each F1 car?

04:35Well, just looking at it already, most of them of course look quite different and that's of course

04:39from the things that you can't see. Most of the things of course underneath are completely different

04:43or designed in a different way and that's I think also what makes F1 very special. You know,

04:49you have all the teams racing, but they all try to find it in their own way to be competitive.

04:55Why do F1 drivers all drink out of inordinately long straws? Can't they just drink from normal

05:00bottles or reasonable length straws like us models? I don't know what they exactly mean with that

05:05because for me it's quite a short straw that I have connected in my helmet. At least for me it's

05:12quite a normal straw. I don't know what they've been looking at to be honest. What is the benefit of

05:18eating ice? Why do F1 drivers eat ice? Like an ice cream or what? I don't eat that.

05:27Do F1 drivers really lose weight from the sheer tension of a single race? I mean,

05:32I lose weight from sweating and my effort that I put in during the race, not from the tension,

05:37but everyone's different I guess. How do drivers usually get into F1? Well,

05:43first of all by being better than others. Most of the time because you start racing and go-karting

05:48and then of course you go up up through the ranks and that can go in many different ways to be honest.

05:53There are a few categories out there, but yeah, it's more or less like other sports, right? You

05:59move up the ranks throughout your career to get to the highest possible.

06:04What's a random F1 moment that you remember or sticks with you? I mean, winning your first race,

06:08you will always remember that. Your first title, stuff like that. Those are always very special

06:14special moments. How do F1 drivers take a league? Well, you cannot during the race. I mean,

06:19there's no toilet in the car. So you have to try and make sure that you go before the race starts.

06:25Otherwise, it's a very long race to try and keep it in.

06:28How would an 80s or 90s Formula 1 car do against the modern Formula 1 car?

06:34Not very good, I would say. They're a bit slower, but that was also, I mean,

06:38it depends a lot on the regulations as well, right? And the knowledge increases over the years, so

06:44it's normal. How do F1 drivers reduce their reaction time? Well, you can do maybe some pre-race,

06:51like warm-up to help. That might help a little bit, but normally I think when you

06:56you sit in the car, you, I think, with the adrenaline also kicking in your reaction time,

07:02naturally, like you're really fired up anyway. How do F1 drivers see through the halo? Well,

07:07it's with your eyes, like the 3D vision, like you kind of look around it. We also, most of the time,

07:13not looking straight, like always looking left or right. Who is the all-time F1 GOAT? Well,

07:19I leave that up for the people themselves to judge that, right? Everyone has their own one,

07:25and I guess that's also what makes it nice, right? To have fans having their favorite driver or not.

07:30This might be a dumb question, but how do F1 drivers train? Like, do they do practice races,

07:35friendlies? Unfortunately, we can't really practice a lot in F1. Yeah, we have a few test days,

07:40but like throughout the year, we cannot drive the F1 car a lot. So we spend a lot of time on our

07:46simulator, so more virtual. It's of course to reduce the cost as well, otherwise people go,

07:50our teams go testing a lot. So that's the only way to try and make sure you keep developing your

07:57F1 car and try and get more performance out of it. Pit stops, when to undercut, overcut.

08:03Yeah, I mean, it depends a bit on the track layout, the tire deck. You know, on some tracks,

08:07an undercut is, of course, very strong because the wear on the tires is very high. So when you're

08:12getting to the end of a stint, you might be, let's say, two seconds slower than when you put a new

08:16tire set on. So then it's very important to know when to undercut. But on some tracks,

08:21the tire deck is not very high. So basically, every lap, of course, the fuel load is coming down.

08:27And that's actually giving you more lap time than actually the wear is increasing. So then an overcut

08:33can sometimes work as well, like Baku sometimes actually, because then the warm up with the tires

08:38also out of the box can be quite tough. And especially between walls, you always take a little

08:43bit more caution on the outlap. So yeah, there are a few tracks where overcuts work,

08:47but mainly I would say undercuts are the way to go. Out of curiosity, how many hours does the driver

08:52actually spend in the car training and practicing? And how many hours do they spend training,

08:56practicing on the in-house sim? Too many hours. Throughout the race weekend, I mean, you have

09:01the practice hours, then you have Kolfang in the race. So, well, what is it? Three hours of practice,

09:07more or less. And then how many hours do they spend training, practicing on the in-house sim? I mean,

09:10you do like, at least for me, like 20, 25 days a year. I would say it's more like nine to five

09:16day. So you do quite a lot throughout the year. And then besides that, of course,

09:20you're constantly discussing a lot of things with the team, you know, even when you're not sitting

09:24in the sim or the real car. What is the greatest max step in victory in your opinion? For me,

09:29it's the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. Honestly, for me, it's difficult to pick one. Like I said before,

09:38probably winning your first one was still like an amazing one. Yeah, there have been some really

09:43good ones. I don't know. I cannot pick, to be honest. How different will 2026 of one cars be

09:49to drive? They will be very different. The engine is already completely different. So that will require

09:55a different kind of driving style, the cars naturally as well. It will be, I think, a big change

10:01for everyone to get on top of these things. And especially, I think the first few races, you will see

10:04quite a big difference between the teams and understanding what to do. I don't think even

10:09we know fully what is exactly going to happen. So yeah, try and not make it too complicated.

10:16What specific innovation or rule change in Formula 1 over the past decade has most genuinely improved

10:21the competitiveness or excitement of the race as well? I guess it's a bit of a love-hate relationship,

10:27but I do think DRS has helped to race a bit more in some tracks. Unfortunately, with having so much

10:33downforce on the car, sometimes it's very hard to follow. And that's why, yeah, we need the DRS

10:38sometimes. So opening the rear wing up on the straights to be able to fight on the straights

10:43and into the braking zones. Otherwise, I think you would have had a lot of boring races in some tracks.

10:49All right, that's it. Thank you for all the questions and see you next time.

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