Last weekend, Red Bull sporting director Helmut Marko caused a stir by claiming that Max Verstappen’s motivation had suffered during the summer months. The reigning Formula 1 world champion now strongly disagrees.
Review: In Austin, Helmut Marko told “Sky” that Red Bull had already given up on the 2025 Formula 1 season “in the summer. But then Max suddenly won at the Nürburgring and came back incredibly motivated. Now everyone is motivated again.”
Verstappen defended himself against this portrayal in Mexico: “Of course it is more pleasant to come to race weekends like this when you know that you have a chance of winning than when you don’t. But I know for myself: When I’m in the car, I always try to give it my all – even if I’m fighting for fourth or ninth place. Then I’m more or less satisfied with certain results.”
Verstappen made it clear that his appearance at the Nürburgring in the GT3 car was not a spontaneous whim, but was “planned for a long time”.
“It’s not like it came up suddenly. Because something like this has to be well organized in advance and you have to prepare accordingly,” said the Dutchman.
“We’re on a good run right now”
Verstappen added: “This year I had the opportunity to take part in the races. It was my first chance on the real track after I had already trained a lot online – even during Formula 1 race weekends. So nothing has changed in my professional approach.”
And now that he still has a chance of winning the world title with only 40 points remaining, “nothing actually changes” for him: “In the worst case scenario, I’ll finish third. I’ll just try to win races until the end of the season. Hopefully that’s possible every weekend, but you can’t know that. We’re currently having a good run and it’s clear to us: everything has to go perfectly until the end.”