P1 with Matt and Tommy - Max Verstappen on the P1 podcast!

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

It's been a long time in the making, but we've finally made it happen: Max Verstappen joins us on the P1 podcast!!!Max speaks to us about how his attitude has changed as he's got older and become a dad, how he works with GP and the team to improve the car, and lots more! Plus, we discuss how drastically he would change the current generation of cars. Come and see our live tour 'Super Podding' this November! It's a brand new show and there are a few tickets left: http:/tix.to/p1liveFancy even more P1? Well, join our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTokP1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks so much to Heineken for helping us sort out this episode. Remember that Heineken Zero Zero. Contains no more than 0.05% ABV. Please drink responsibly. Max Verstappen, thank you for joining us on the P1 podcast here at Silverstone. It's so great to finally be able to get you on our podcast. Tommy's been dreaming of this for a very long time. Also me as well, of course, but he's the big fan boy.

How are you? How are you? Good, yeah. Yeah, all okay. the control for now. Yeah, yeah, because you're about to go and have a massive race, aren't you, in a few hours? Passing 100 people will be, Tommy's never passed 100 people in karting ever. So how will it be for you? Maybe 100 past you. Yeah, it's so true. I do think it's a really nice setup that we're in a cool down room as well, because when we first started P1, they were the running joke of the Maxfussapp and podcast

in the cool down room, and we really wanted to have you on the pod. So amazing that we get to do it now. crazy coincidence. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You miss the Max West Aftam podcast,

don't you? I do. I do. Yeah. Okay, so let's get into some questions as you're a very busy man. You've got a lot of things to do. So we've got some from us,

some from fans. The first one is, is there anything outside of F1, you and your mates are fans of, and enjoy together? So we know you're a big paddle player, for example. Yeah, for sure.

You know, whenever we can, we try and play paddle, watching sports in general together, um, football. other kind of racing like motorjip for example um but to be honest when i'm with my friends besides like playing sports whatever it's actually just spending time together because you don't

see each other um that much because we all have busy schedules you know so just trying to enjoy whatever the holidays that you're on together um and and just the families really awesome what's been the best interaction that you've had with a fan whether it's talking about f1 or sim racing probably just see the passion, you know, how they experience, well, either being a fan or just a racing enthusiast, uh, sometimes asking some technical questions that you have to be careful the way you answer them as well, and not to give too much away. But it's nice like that, you know, instead of like the normal questions that you normally get

every single weekend, which is quite straightforward. But yeah, you know, just seeing the passion. And also what I really enjoyed was, for example, at the Northside, just seeing the fans there and, you know, appreciating proper motorsport and, and, and, you know, just being, being real. Being real, yes. So something we, a lot of us wonder is, do you see TikToks or memes that fans make about you? Do you see them ever when you're... Well, I don't have TikTok. Don't have TikTok, Instagram, any of them?

Well, I have, of course, I have Instagram and X, but I get stuff sent to me and sometimes, of course, stuff like pops up in the in the search area but um you also can go down to down a rabbit hole with that you know so you have to stop at some point yeah any strange ones and i mean nowadays i mean crazy things can be created yeah yeah yeah yeah there's a very famous image of a fan that when you won your first race they got the date tattooed on their back very large yes um do you remember interaction well in austria yeah have you uh... to him since. Have you seen him since? How's he back?

How's his back? Yeah, probably had to use a different font size, I think. Yeah, I don't think he was expecting 70 wins when he got the, because the first tattoo was quite large. Yeah. I mean, that's okay for a first win, but I also, I mean, I would have never expected to win the amount that I did. So I could understand, yeah, I can understand that he was very passionate about the wins

that I had at the time. I don't know how many years, but. since, but I would have stopped, to be honest. I didn't. I don't have it. It's not me. No, no, you haven't signed. Yeah, no.

You just have the numbers. To be fair, actually, it's a funny joke from last year. Of course, you won that insane championship run to try and win it right at the end. And we had a deal that Tommy was going to get a massive tattoo of you on his arm if you were able to win the championship. You should have told me I would have pushed it before. Yes, yeah, because you were looking at tattoo powers. And you were like, oh, you get a tattoo. I was like, it's 100 points.

it's like, of course, and then it went down and down and down. Got close. Yeah, it's got very, very close. So question from K. Uzunis. What is your personal favorite overtaking move from your career if you had to pick one? Oh my God. It's been quite a few. Yeah, I think like it's very, it's very hard to pick one. Probably the one that comes up in my mind now is like after the start in in Imala. That was a cool one. No, I think no one saw that one coming. So, you know, the ones that are always a little bit like, really like unexpected. Did you see it coming that one? No, because I didn't know that at the time Oscar was going to break early. So I just go to the ride and say, well, now I'm just going to send it. So it's like, I just commit. We do watch

longs for all the races and our reaction to that one. I think, as you say, it's because it was so unexpected. Normally a lot of overtakes you kind of know when they're going to happen and there's a bit a buildup, but that one, it was just like, couldn't believe what we just win. Yeah. No, it was good, and of course that made the race for me as well, you know, so it was like a race-winning overtake. Yeah, absolutely. When was the last time you surprised yourself

in a Formula One car that made you think, damn, that was good? Maybe apart from Imola. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, you have some qualifying laps where you, but I'm not the type that then crosses, I'm like, yeah, this was the best lap ever. Like, I would, yeah. I mean, you always have good labs.

great laps but surprising myself probably not I'm more like just always thinking like did I actually do a good job or not did I hit all the apexes that I wanted to hit you know did I do what I wanted to do it's not so much about just like crossing I'm like oh my God like this was I surprised myself you know so I just expect that I need to deliver at a certain level and then I always try to make sure that or think back at it like did I actually do what I wanted to do and your level is obviously insanely high that you're wanting to to hit would you say it's never good enough. I'm always self-critical to the point where, you know, okay, winning is great, but you always look back at what can be better and how, you know, how can I improve further?

Do you have any races where you finish like a P6 or whatever? And in, you know, that's been even better than one of your wins, for example. Well, this year, there have been a few like that where I think I've driven a good race, but yeah, it's not really either showing or it's, it doesn't look impressive, but, or maybe it, maybe it does. I don't know, but like for me, yeah, I still, I'm still delivering good races, but they're not race wins. So that's always not, yeah, then probably doesn't catch as much attention. Yeah, especially not on our driver ratings, they mate. Yeah, yeah, we signed up to doing driver ratings.

And it's very difficult to know when it's so much about Formula One is car performance. Like a race winner already standard gets a higher rating normally. And it's very difficult to know what comes after. Like how much is that the driver rating? Is it car relate? You know, like... How'd you rate someone lower down the grid that's finished so far

that their teammate? And yeah, it's not easy. That's why I don't do a rating. One day we'll have you on. You can do them for us. Tommy always gives you an extra point, that's for sure. Now, if we could put 18-year-old Max Verstappen in your car against you now, who wins?

Probably I will win, of course, now, right now. But not so much, I think on pure pace is just like experience and just how you handle the weekend. and knowing when to risk more, you know, yeah. When I was 18, I just wanted to go quick all the time. Now I don't need to go quick all the time. Yeah, so would you say that's one of the things that's changed a lot from when you started

to now, like in terms of figuring? Yeah, but I mean, I think it's normal because you arrive into Formula One. You want to win. You want to show yourself. You know, you want to try and win championships once you've done all that. I think also you become a little bit more calm and a bit more relaxed in a way. and just knowing your moments when to push, but it's also just my life, right,

from when I was 18 to now, has changed a lot, you know, having your own family. When I was 18 years old, my life was very different to what it is now. We actually spoke to Carlos a few years ago that was kind of mentioned about the mentality of when you're going into a weekend. Sometimes you'll be a bit too calm,

sometimes you'll be a little bit on the nervous side and you have to do different things in order to get yourself to that good baseline. Do you find that same thing or you just calm and chill and that's fine? No, not for me, no. I mean, I know when I need to switch on and when I can switch off. Nerves anyway, they don't really happen anymore.

But I think from when I started in go-karting, you know, together with my dad, how we prepare it. Like I know very well when I need to be switched on and not and be ready. And of course, you know, sometimes you have a better weekend than others. But that has nothing to do with how you switch on. It's just, yeah, sometimes just works a bit better than others. just suits you better than another one. Nice. This one is from fuel to the max.

When you look back at your career one day, what do you think you'll be most proud of that has nothing to do with the number of wins or championships that you've won? Always be myself. I don't think I've changed as a person. Of course, everyone gets older and things happen in your life, good or bad, but for me, I've always been myself.

I'm here to race. I'm not here for all the other stuff. And I say how I see things. And sometimes that cannot be appreciated, but so be it. I'm just being honest. There's a lot of people that appreciate it. Don't worry. There's a lot of people that do that. You were able to hand over the first ever Heineken F1 season ticket to Brandon Burgess last year.

And you were part of the content, which we were also in for about three seconds, to find the holder for 2020. Which race should the next holder be most excited for? This year still? It's 2027. 20. season yeah oh i mean i'm i'm excited to go back to to portugal i like the calendar today haven't we yeah i mean i i love portugal i love to be in that area as well and it's a great track i mean racing can be a bit tough but um it's a single lap it's it's very beautiful so i i get excited because of course you know

the track is great but i mean being around there in the algarv is very beautiful okay so can make it a bit of a trip yeah i went on hold of that recently it's really really stunning place Do you think it would suit the cars that we've got at the moment? Well, these cars don't suit anything, but you just make the best of it. Yeah, you're kind of relearning when we go through the races of like, oh, this one is traditionally good, but you just have no idea. No, it's very different now because of, yeah, the battery deployment or the lack of it. So you just, yeah, I mean, Monza is very different.

Monza's crazy. You have no overtaking at all, right? Yeah, because you're just so limited with the battery. that yeah you can pass but an extra you can get repassed and it's a bit of like this like yo-yo racing I don't it's not I mean might look exciting because you there are overtakes but they're not real overtakes in a way but yeah it's it's a bit different I mean I hope of course the coming years it will it will get a bit better you know when we're going more more to a little bit more like a bit more ice power a little bit less battery but it's tough yeah yeah I'd love to explore a little bit more as we're talking about

the cars. We've had a few drivers, I think yourself as well saying about it being quite numb compared to other years. What do you mean by that? What kind of sensation? So an example in Madrid, right? Naturally, when you go into some corners, you either keep it flat or you're like just like fettering the throttle close to being flat. That's the worst thing you can do with these cars. But that's actually where the strength can come from some drivers like being late on the brakes, early on throttle, different kind of throttle input also. Now it's all about your strength to be as late. as possible on throttle or late as possible to full throttle which is like very yeah non like it's just really not race orientated or I would say the fast drivers don't drive like that and that's why especially

also in qualifying you you're just stuck in a certain area or a certain place where you just physically almost can't make a difference because you have to just drive it in a certain way that almost everyone can or you know within half a 10 that's why the gaps are in general very small because yeah in some high speed corners they are not actually at high speed anymore because it's more efficient to lift and then go later on throttle and have the deployment later on the

straight yeah we were talking about turkey weren't we of course earlier today yeah that's going to be the same as the banking in in Madrid where you I mean you can keep it flat but that's the worst thing that you can do for the battery so it's probably about just trying to lift efficiently and and reapply

it because of you know there's a long straight after only a small breaking zone and then again a very long straight so you know the amount of recharge that you can do there is not a lot of harvesting so it's going to be challenging okay so the uh the season ticket that we're talking about is obviously a very special prize uh what's the most memorable gift or one that you can remember that you've received from a fan i imagine you get quite a few of races and yes but actually the one that i remember very well was a kid gave it to me um in spa uh it was like a little book for my daughter with like, you touch like a button and it plays like different sounds. And she loved it.

Like I brought it back home and she loved it. Like reading through it, little different sounds and pictures. I think, you know, it was a kid seven or eight years old, maybe, maybe eight, nine. Just so attentive, you know, to give something like that. Of course, maybe the parents helped or not. I don't know. I don't care. But it's just super nice to receive something like that.

It really is. We were actually going to ask this question a bit later. but I think it's a good segue. What is your favorite thing about being a dad? Honestly, just seeing her grow and her calling my name. Yeah, every week that I come back home, she's learning new things. And yeah, just seeing her evolve as a human being, you know, like just growing. And yeah, in one way you don't want her to grow.

You want her to stay like that. But yeah, I also want to see how she grows up. So, yeah, it's really nice. Has it changed anything to your driving? so I've got a young daughter as well and I think she's like when you have a kid it completely changes your whole perception of life

and what's important in life has that changed anything for you in terms of your racing or not once I put my helmet like once I put my helmet on and I'm at the track and I'm racing like I know what is dangerous or not and sometimes it's also not in your own control right

but I know where I can do or not and it's not like when I'm going for an overtake I'm thinking about her I'm actually trying to just pass the guy but for sure outside of it it's all about just trying to spend more time at home and just be there, you know. Amazing. So we met through F1 and became friends because of it.

And we now have an incredible community that all share the same passion. Who have you built a connection with through F1? Well, I mean, I think the most obvious one for me is, of course, my race engineer at the moment with GP. When I joined the team, of course, I was a proper rookie. He was 18 years old. Like I said before, in a very different phase of my life. And of course with GP, I went through all the good, all the bad on a, you know, the personal level, but also, you know, performance level. And yeah, I think we really build a special, let's say, connection and friendship where it's not only just as a, you know, colleague or working relationship.

It's also, yeah, just as a whole. Yeah, I think very, very special. I absolutely love your exchanges over team radio that get played because it genuinely just sounds like brothers fighting at times. We still care a lot. I mean, even I know, of course, that he's leaving, but we still care a lot and we still want to get the best possible results till till the end. I think do maybe fans not realize just how important like a driver-engineer relationship is really because of you, you know, when you're driving in the races and you need that communication, you need, there's sometimes like brutal honesty and things as well. Yeah, and of course, every driver is also a little bit different, right, and what they want or what they need. That's why you see different kind of combos between an engineer and a driver.

But for me, the way is, it works really well. and maybe sometimes people are a bit like, whoa, like, how's that? You know, how's that going? But for us, it works brilliant. And I think in terms of, like, getting the maximum amount of a, like, a race or a result, yeah, it has shown, I think, many times that it works very well.

Is there anything you were absolutely convinced about when you entered Formula One that you now realize you were completely wrong about? I don't know. I mean, F1, of course, has changed quite a bit. More races. more, I would say a little bit of a zoo, you know, like in the paddock. Very different to what it used to be, yeah.

So I didn't really see that coming that quickly. But nothing to be really wrong about. I mean, it's still racing, it's still the pinnacle, but there's a lot more. Like, you actually don't drive a lot compared to what you actually do around the track. Yeah. Yeah, we've been talking. I knew that to a certain extent. Yeah.

But, yeah. Because we've been talking about recently on the podcast about, obviously, sprint weekends and more sprints now and things like that. Like, what would be an ideal race weekend for Max Verstappen? Like, what would be your ideal for the amount of driving and that sort of stuff? Arrives Saturday morning, FP1 qualifying, and then the race on Sunday. Easy. That's exactly what Gabby said.

But the problem is that, of course, they have to monetize a Friday. They have to monetize a Saturday and a Sunday. So that's why I get that. a Friday needs to be exciting a Saturday needs to be exciting in the Sunday so I understand that a sprint format is better or probably more fun for most

that are at the track also because there's more racing but of course there's a drive like I just purely think from the driver's side of things you know like three practice sessions can get a bit boring it's probably a bit much but if you really want a biggest

I'm like to get rid it's really interesting to hear that get rid of at least one It's really interesting to hear that because do you think the teams and engineers get more out of a practice session than a driver, for example? Well, honestly, it's a bit here. I mean, it depends also where you are as a team. Like, if you understand your car well, then you can easily say, oh, we can get rid of one. But sometimes, you know, some years, it's harder to understand the car. And you actually sometimes need, like, two sessions or whatever to figure it out.

But, I mean, that's their problem, right? This is the team's problem. But, yeah. Well, while we're on this subject, actually, we have this running joke. and I think a lot of fans notice it that when you have like unusual track conditions or it's a little bit rainy and you know you go straight out the pits your kind of base level lap is normally a lot quicker than a lot of other drivers that are gearing themselves up is that just the way you like to to do it it's probably from when I was a kid I was practicing a lot in those kind of scenarios and my dad always told me like whatever you think is safe is probably still very fast compared to a lot of other

others because of course when I was a kid I used to go off I used to crash in these kind of conditions as well so he's like they just take it a notch down and then normally it's still good enough and that's a bit of the approach that I always tell myself like think to yourself that it's a bit underwhelming or like you're under it it should normally still be good enough because of the way that I practice as a kid going over that limit or like crushing and then you just take it a step back learn from it and and yeah then You just feel, you see or you think you see that where you need to go to find grip or yeah. Yeah, we always say, don't we, in a sprint weekend when we're doing our predictions, we're like,

yeah, Max has got to be in there because there's only one practice session. And I don't even like the format. Speaking of the format, actually, because there's, obviously we had the initial sprint weekend where it all sort of linked into one Grand Prix weekend, right? So what happened in the sprint was basically qualifying and things like that. Did you prefer that or the one we do now? No, because then you were really, like you only had like FP1 and you. if the car was not in a good window, you were done.

Like, your weekend is over. I had that, I think, in 22 or 23 in Brazil. Can't touch the car. The weekend is over. And, yeah, the car is nowhere. So at least after the sprint race, to have an opportunity to change the car once, I think it's better.

So do you think having the Park Fermé bit open up, but with the older version or the one we have now would be better, do you think? Because it's more jeopardy with the first version, because if something happened in the sprint, it's like, okay, that's actually affecting your your sort of race weekend, whereas nowadays, oh, eight points, whatever. Yeah, but that's why I also, I don't really have a lot of emotion racing a sprint, because as a kid, you watch the Grand Prix, that's the one that you want to win.

For me, winning a sprint, it's like taking off, it's just, all right, you know, it doesn't matter, not even winning, like, whatever you cross the line, so, all right, done, session is over. For me, session, it's not a race for me in my head. Yeah, it is strange hearing the driver. that you could have the best sprint win the race and the driver's direction are, well, it's all that matters is in two hours time when I qualify. You put your P1, you win the sprint,

you put it on pole, and then you don't win the main. I would go home annoyed. And you get like one more point than your rival. Exactly. So there is no real reward in a way. In your mind, it's all about preparation for the main raise. And if you lose two or three points in the sprint, whatever, like it's not a big deal.

Exactly, because you have the top four. Yeah, that's why I never really get super excited. About it plus what I think as well, it already gives away a little bit of the picture for the main race. I know you can change the car a little bit, but normally the main picture is already set from the sprint. It's just before the pit stop, isn't it? Basically is what we see.

Yeah, and then you know who has a pace advantage or not unless someone does like a magic thing overnight, but that's very rare that those things really happen. Plus what I like as well is like, normally you go into the race, with still a few unknowns of managing your tires. And actually in the sprint, you do learn a little bit about if you need to manage more or less.

And for some drivers, then they fix it for the race. And I always prefer that we don't have that because then you go into the main race and if a driver is struggling on the tires or doesn't know how to manage them, that's his race over. But the sprint gives you a little bit of a wake-up call sometimes if you don't get it right

because that then gives you time to think overnight and then you normally get it right for the race. Fascinating stuff. this. What's the last moment in racing that made you properly nervous? Well, not to be nervous, but just excited was when I went out for my first stint at the North Seifler. Yeah, I was like, because I was just so ready for it. I was like, now I want to go out and now we can finally also go flat out because, as we all know, having to deal with BOP, everyone is hiding, every single brand team. And I was like, all right, now everyone is. All right, now everyone is

flat out finally now we can now we can go love it and then on the outlap i almost went off so it took off so i was like all right yeah that was that was crazy speaking of the nerberg ring uh Tina has asked will we see franz herman driving again and if yes where will we see that name used again or is it retired no i think that i think honestly the name is is retired because now it's just me rocking up to those races people know you're going to be there now yeah I mean, especially after not winning it this year, right, with the retirement that we had, while it was all just looking great to win it. And, I mean, it would have been such a beautiful story in your first, like, Endurance

event to win it. And, yeah, everything was just, the stars were all aligned. And then, of course, the car broke down. But I want to go back and I want to try and, of course, win it. Even more motivated than if you had one of course. Yeah. Yeah, because then it's like almost like you ticked it off, right? Now I still want to go back and win it.

Yeah, absolutely. You've not use those names for. that name for anything else, like dinner reservations or anything to try and hide away. No, because I signed up and I knew, yeah, normally you have to sign it with your name, but they were like actually for the Friday or like the test day, you can sign up under aliens or whatever. It's like, well, let's just have a bit of fun, make it like really German. So I was like, just put that.

And then actually the team at the time with Imel Frey, they were laughing that I gave that name. And they were like, really, you want to put that down? I was like, yeah, yeah, why not? Nice. Absolutely love it. So we ask this to every F1 driver who comes on. the podcast. If you could change one rule in F1, what would it be and why? Right now, change the engine. Back to the V8. We thought that might have been it. Yeah. It fixes so many things. It's much better for

in every single scenario. You know, so driveability, it's lighter, much more fun to race with. And if you need like a tiny battery for like a push to pass, so we also don't need the DRS anymore, that's fine. Yeah, we liked Kerr's back in the day. Like that's, the kind of. Yeah, yeah. Like a little boost. Like a little boost. They're been indie car, didn't they?

Like push the pass and things. Yeah, something that is powerful enough to generate an overtake, but at the end of the straight that you need to go for a move, you know, underbreaking. Now sometimes with the SM, but that is, of course, more dependent on the battery state. But before with DRS sometimes it's also way too powerful in places. And yeah. And for me, like surely every fan and everyone watching wants to see that as well, because, you know, if you just fly past someone on the straight,

whereas, you know, like we were talking about the Piastrian move or the one you made on Lewis at Hungary, like that, it's so much more satisfying to watch because you know that you've, like, been brave, you've hit the brakes. Yeah, it's a proper racing overtake, not just an overtake. Yeah, but that puts how easy. So, like, tick something off.

So no DRS, just... Ideally not. Yeah. I mean, I know, of course, it's a little bit complicated sometimes with the cars that we have currently with drag and stuff, like, you get more and more efficient with drag. but in my ideal world V8, V10, but I guess it will be more V8 nowadays,

that will be great, a lot more fun to drive. And then if you add like a little battery for like a push to pass kind of thing, then I think it's fine. And then in terms of the aeroside of the car, like what would be, what would you consider like the most fun car

that you've driven in terms of like being nimble or whatever? Like 2020, 21. Also the wheel size was much nicer to drive. just yeah felt much better i would say amazing the this one is from artificial f1 uh your name for adapting very quickly um how do you tell the difference between something you should adapt around as a driver and something that you need to push the team to change so what i have to adapt around at the moment is just how these cars are being driven what i explained before and then um what i asked the team many times to what you hear me complain about on the radio sometimes so that's what we work on you know to try

and fix but some bits are easier to fix than than others how do you know that in terms of the feel in the car though like in terms of like okay this is just a characteristic that may be quite fast but you have to get around and things you're like no come on guys we need to change this well because some are just limitations from the regulation and some bits are the same for everyone but some are clearly better on it than others and we know that we can work on so okay so just looking at other teams and going, well, they're doing it a bit better. Well, yeah, you can see it. You can feel it when it's right or wrong on your side.

So for sure, yeah, it's like that. Okay. Isaz Kidas has asked, what's one memory from your carting days that still makes you laugh? Oh, countless hours in the holidays driving with my friends, like doing these fun races, but then also after that, just playing, having a good time, dinners together. Yeah. just not really caring about anything else, just doing what you love, being with your friends,

your good friends and family, just trying to get better at what you love doing. Do you remember racing against people that you're racing against Formula One now when you were karting and is it strange to have, like, grown up, obviously there's that famous clip of you and child when you were karting that gets shared around all the time, but you must have raced against many other drivers

that are racing against now in cars. Yeah, Pierre Esteban, then of course Charles. I'm probably forgetting some now. And I've raised against Lando, he was like two years younger. There is a famous picture of you in Lando like shaking hands where he's so small. Yeah, yeah, you grew late. Yeah, it was really funny. But yeah, exactly.

Like I have a lot of memories of racing against them. and yeah at the time did you think that all of us were going to make it to four one probably not but i think it was quite obvious that some of us would would go there yeah in that carting time with all those guys was there ever like a bit of a pecking order like he's a little bit better than me at this moment when next year you know you maybe get him or whatever was there ever kind of like this guy's the best right now Alex well of course i forgot him yeah because i Alex was very highly regarded in karting, wasn't he, as well. Yeah.

Alex is very good in go-karting. Yeah. Oh, you still is very good. But in go-kiding, you was always there. Yeah. Yeah, but as a driver, you never think there is someone out there better than you. Good. Especially as a kid, you're like, no, no.

I'm better. Do you have to be, you have to believe like that. Otherwise, it's better to stay at home. Because if you rock up to a weekend where you think someone else is better than you, then why are you there? That's very true. Do you race people differently based on, like, you kind of past experiences with them, for example.

No, I don't hold grudges from back in the day. No, I'm not like that. But of course, you have some moments with drivers back in the day that were better than others. But that's, I mean, we laugh about that now. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So you don't, when you're like, when you're going to overtake someone, you don't think, this is them, I know their characteristics is how they race.

Well, yeah, everyone races a little bit different. That's for sure in terms of how they defend or how they attack. that that's yeah that's something that of course you learn over time the more you actually like race them in a formula car especially can you give us an example even if it's not the driver's name like in terms of someone that you know well some are more aggressive in their defending than others or smarter um yeah okay for sure some leave you a little bit more space than others uh this one's from l paris 93 would you like to be able to talk to each other and other drivers during the race. Could that be fun or carnage? No, no, probably not. It really depends also on the

scenario that you're in, right? No, but I'm happy, speaking to GP is probably already enough and probably GP at times already wants to have a mute button. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just unplugs. I don't know. So when we're watching, obviously, we get the team radio, but it's not as much as what we're fed. How are you kind of a driver that's communicated more to than others, or would you say you're sort of a minimal. I don't think it depends on the race scenario as well, right? Some races you just naturally communicate more because there's more happening. I don't think I'm the one that actually speaks a lot because once I'm in my rhythm, I don't need to speak a lot. I mean, GP tells me, of course, what's going around me sometimes with lap times and updates or tire wear or how

tired behavior. But he doesn't need to speak to me every lap about what I need to do or look at this So look at that. It's more when he sees me either struggling with something or I ask for something that you have a communication going. So it comes back to that relationship where he can almost know that you're struggling. He reads it, but it's also not on EGP, right? Of course, also from my performance engineer side, like they're looking at my own boards and they are checking it all the time

or they look into the data and they can see limitations in the car. So sometimes even without me saying anything, they come back with a recommendation for a certain corner. And that's exactly what you want. Because if you have to keep going to your engineer, like, hey, listen, in this corner, I keep having a problem. Can you guys find a solution? That's probably then they're not on top of things.

And how often do you know the race picture? I know you said that sometimes they come over and tell you. But obviously there's TVs around the whole track and things like that. Yeah, some are positioned better than others. Some tracks is easier to follow the race than other tracks. So do you actually just look up sometimes and go, okay, right, they're there. Yeah, you see the gap. Yeah.

Do you actually look at the gaps as long? There's a clip that's gone really viral of you where I think you're talking to GP and you can hear that a team has done a double stack. In Abu Dhabi, Ferrari was doing a double stack and you hear it. Yeah. Are you always looking for information from some things like that? Yeah, you know, I was looking around on the screens and because around there, they're quite well lit and yeah, I could just hear it when he opened the radio.

I could hear knowing that, of course, my teammate was not in the pits and I could hear that it was just a little bit further down that, yeah, it was Ferrari in their pit box doing the stop. That's so awesome. One final question. how many corners into driving a new Formula One car does it take for you to know whether it's good or not? Tough one, you know, because sometimes also like you release a car either you still know like, listen, okay, the first week that we're running this car

might not be fantastic, but then for the week after we'll put a lot of upgrades. Sometimes it just happens like that, that you're either late or early with a car development. And that has happened over the last few years where sometimes, yeah, you were early, you were like, no, this is our race package for race one. Or you're like, okay, next week we'll get the proper race update. And yeah, sometimes, because you realize when you're doing long runs and when you know people are on a lot of fuel,

you can see if you're competitive or not. On the short run, sometimes it's a bit tough because you don't really know what people are doing. But once you fill up the car and you can kind of understand what other people are doing as well, you quite quickly see a picture of where you are. But I also had years where, driving-wise, I was not happy with the car.

Like, I was not really to my liking. So beginning of 22, the car was severely overweight and in the wrong way. So it was understeering a lot. But the car was still kind of competitive, you know. So it's not always a given that if I don't like the car, that it's necessarily like a slow car. You know, some cars are just naturally, yeah, born better. Amazing.

Max, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Big shout out to Heineken for allowing this opportunity to happen. This has been awesome. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. and Max, best of luck for your cart racing a matter of hours. I will need it. Thank you.

Good luck. Thanks, mate. Thank you. Thanks so much to Heineken for helping us sort out this episode. Remember that Heineken Zero Zero contains no more than 0.05% ABV. Please drink responsibly.

P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.