Max Verstappen has addressed all theories suggesting that the Red Bull RB21 is tailored to his driving style, clarifying that while he can adapt, it is not his ideal car.
After the end of Red Bull’s first golden era with Sebastian Vettel from 2010 to 2013, the team entered a second dominant phase led by Max Verstappen, who has been a four-time consecutive world champion from 2021 to 2024. This period marked an unstoppable run for the Milton Keynes squad but also highlighted the struggles faced by all Verstappen’s teammates, none of whom ever matched the performance of the #1 driver and were subsequently released after results fell well below expectations.
Driving style
One notable example is Alex Albon in 2019, who emphasized how Red Bull cars were often perceived as being designed to suit Verstappen’s unique driving style. Alex Albon described the RB cars’ sensitivity: “It’s an entirely different level of responsiveness. It’s incredibly sensitive. To explain it simply, if you max out the sensitivity in a video game and move the mouse, the cursor flies across the screen uncontrollably, and that’s more or less what it feels like. It becomes so sensitive that it can put you on edge.”
This theory was contradicted by Red Bull’s Technical Director Pierre Wache, who last year clarified that the team’s main and sole objective is to build a fast car. Wache stated: “It’s not our intention to develop specifically for Max, but as a driver, he can manage a less connected balance. To create a fast car, by definition, we head in this direction. You can still make an understeering car, but it would be slower. Our task is to move away from that and then use the setup to make it faster.”
Adapting to the car
Max Verstappen himself has confirmed that the RB21 is not the car he would ideally want, but he is able to adapt to its characteristics better than his teammates. “I adapt to what I have. It’s not what I like, it’s simply what I have,” Verstappen explained in an interview with the Ford Performance YouTube channel. “I have to try to drive in that direction because it’s the fastest way around the track, but it’s not what I would personally want. I would like different components on the car. I’m happy with my performance, but I don’t do it to show people what I can do. I do it because I want to be the best with myself. In this sense, I’m quite a perfectionist; it’s never enough. If I get out of the car and tell myself ‘this is good enough,’ it’s never actually good enough.”
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