What makes Max Verstappen so special? Secrets to success shared

Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has shared some of the secrets to his success in a fascinating insight into his mindset and approach.

The Red Bull driver won four consecutive F1 world championships between 2021 and 2024 before seeing his reign of dominance ended by McLaren’s Lando Norris last season.

Despite missing out on the world title, Verstappen arguably produced his strongest season in F1 to date as he fell just two points shy of pulling off the greatest championship comeback in history.

The 28-year-old Dutchman has set the benchmark in F1 for several years, but what exactly makes him so good? 

“It’s two things,” Verstappen told the Up To Speed podcast when asked how he is able to do what he does.

“From a young age, trying a lot of different kinds of racing in different kinds of conditions, because you will always pick up something that will be very useful in a critical scenario, like when you lose the car, or whatever.

“I grew up racing basically whatever had an engine. I love driving all different kinds of cars. There’s always something unique, or that makes you a bit more of all-round driver that you can use. Whatever I learn in F1 I might use in GTs.

“And just constantly practicing online, it’s a bit of muscle memory. Besides that, most of the time you are in the car, you are not driving at 102 percent. A lot of drivers I see are constantly trying to go as fast as they can, where probably I’m not doing that.”

Sim racing gains and a relentless push for performance

Verstappen is also an avid simracer, and even contests sim racing events that clash with F1 grand prix weekends.

He famously made headlines by winning the virtual Nurburgring 24 Hours with his Team Redline squad on the same weekend he won the real-world Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in 2024.

Verstappen is a firm believer that there is untapped potential in the virtual world and credits his sim racing exploits for improving his adaptability amid a relentless quest for additional performance.

“I’m constantly thinking about how I can improve and find performance,” Verstappen said. “I’m never satisfied with any kind of result. I always come out of a weekend and I’m like ‘could we have tried something else, could we have tried more.

“I think it’s always that hunger of trying to find performance. My dad from a young age, always told me ‘even when you win races, it’s never good enough’. There’s always things you can look back at and think ‘could I have done this better or could we have looked into this detail more? Could we have looked into the engine more, could we have had a different set-up?

“This is what I try to apply and also what I try to explain in the sim racing team to my drivers. I ask the question ‘have you tried something?’ They say ‘yeah we have the set-up for the race, we are all set’. I’m like ‘are you sure? Have you actually tried everything, should you go over it again?’

“I would still change the set-up in the night, or the middle of the night, before the race because I was still not happy with it whereas maybe others had for one or two days the set-up and they were happy with it. I feel like in the final moments before a race, that’s sometimes where you can still find more performance.”