Max Verstappen Answers F1 Driver Questions | Tech Support |

I'm Max Stappen and today I'll be answering your questions from the internet. This is F1 Driver Support. So, when is the best time to pit? In our team, together with Oracle, we run over 8 billion simulations before the race basically starts. So it gives us a lot of opportunities to make sure that we have the right strategy out there and know when to pit basically. Do F1 drivers watch endless hours of tapes of each other I mean, we do look at onboards of even other drivers. Yourself, you do look back sometimes on the years before. But the thing is that also the F1 cars, every year they change and sometimes with that the balance changes. The weather has a massive influence as well. The wind direction has a big influence. So yes, you can learn a little bit of it sometimes or you can use it as a little bit of a reference to start. But then it's very important to basically just go off what you learned throughout the weekend and then just try and optimize it from there. What's your best advice to improve your overtaking ability? Well, practice a lot. I mean, practice makes perfect. If that's in the real world, virtual world. The more you race, the more you come into these kind of situations where you have to either defend or overtake. Asking F1, which track statistically is the most exciting? Overtakes, accidents, flags, pits, weather, drama and unexpected winners consistently. I guess Baku maybe? I think of the history of F1 probably is a bit unexpected with stuff. You know, exactly like it's all spelled out there. A lot can happen there, good or bad. Wet races are boring. Cars are slow and there is no racing. The only entertainment is driver mistakes. Sir or ma'am, you are an idiot. Wet races are not boring. Cars are not slow and there is racing. Most of the time. Yeah, that's definitely not the only entertainment, the driver mistakes. So I very heavily disagree. Do you like them? I like them, yeah. I mean, I like wet races, dry races. It also depends a lot on how much rain, when it comes in, start of the race, middle of the race, stuff like that. They can be very entertaining. What's up with the new Formula 1 obsession in the USA? What's up with that? I guess, you know, having a series on Netflix helped a lot. Also, during COVID, you know, people being more aware of what's going on, you know, especially when you were mainly sitting at home, right? You couldn't really do much. That definitely helped a lot. And then, of course, I think also the ownership has really pushed it, of course, to have three races in the US, showing more awareness for the sport here. So I think all those things definitely help. What is the biggest difference between a good driver and a great one? I think the difference between a good one and a great one is to be, first of all, consistently performing well, especially when the pressure is on, you know, to get the best out of yourself. You know, these kind of moments really define, I think, the difference between a good and a great driver. What is Max Verstappen's biggest weakness? And in what way does it affect his performances, if at all? Well, I will never tell you. No, you would never say something like that about yourself. Even if you know what it is, you try to work on it. And that's it. Why do F1 drivers need to be physically fit? Well, like in any other proper sport, if you're not fit, you can't perform at your very best. You know, within those one and a half hours as well in the race, there are a lot of forces on your body, and you need to make sure that you're not busy trying to hold on to the car. And basically, yeah, be fit enough to drive the car and be busy with other stuff as well. Does anyone know about the mental preparations the drivers do to stay on top of their game? It depends on the driver, you know. Some do more than others. Some keep it very simple. Some need to do a whole different kind of prep before they jump in the car. I'm probably on the least side of things, where you do a bit of warm-up for your muscles and stuff, some tiny reaction games. But you can also easily just sit in the car and go, you know how driving and sneezing at the same time is horrific for that split second? What do F1 drivers do? How can they sneeze and drive? It doesn't really happen that often. I think for me, it only happened really... I think when you're a bit ill, then it can happen. But yeah, you have to deal with it. I mean, it's like, what, half a second, a second? It's not nice, but it can happen. How different is each Formula 1 car? Well, just looking at it already, most of them, of course, look quite different. And that's, of course, from the things that you can see. Most of the things, of course, underneath are completely different or designed in a different way. And that's, I think, also what makes Formula 1 very special. You know, you have all the teams racing, but they all try to find it in their own way to be competitive. Why do F1 drivers all drink out of inordinately long straws? Can't they just drink from normal bottles or reasonable length straws like us models? I don't know what they exactly mean with that. Because for me, it's quite a short straw that I have connected in my helmet. So at least for me, it's quite a normal straw. I don't know what they've been looking at, to be honest. What is the benefit of eating ice? Why do F1 drivers eat ice? Like an ice cream or what? I don't eat that. Do Formula 1 drivers really lose weight from the sheer tension of a single race? I mean, I lose weight from sweating. And my effort that I put in during the race, not from the tension. But everyone's different, I guess. How do drivers usually get into Formula 1? Well, first of all, by being better than others. Most of the time, of course, you start racing in go-karting. And then, of course, you go up through the ranks. And that can go in many different ways, to be honest. There are a few categories out there. But yeah, it's more or less like other sports, right? You move up the ranks throughout your career to get to the highest possible. What's a random F1 moment that you remember or sticks with you? I mean, winning your first race, you will always remember that. Your first title, stuff like that. Those are always very special moments. How do F1 drivers take a leak? Well, you cannot during the race. I mean, there's no toilet in the car. So you have to try and make sure that you go before the race starts. Otherwise, it's a very long race to try and keep it in. How would an 80s or 90s Formula 1 car do against a modern Formula 1 car? Not very good, I would say. They're a bit slower. But that was also... I mean, it depends a lot on the regulations as well, right? And the knowledge increases over the years. So it's normal. How do F1 drivers reduce their reaction time? Well, you can do maybe some pre-race warm-up to help. That might help a little bit. But normally, I think when you sit in the car, I think with the adrenaline also kicking in, your reaction time naturally... Like, you're really fired up anyway. How do F1 drivers see through the halo? Well, it's with your eyes, like the 3D vision. Like, you kind of look around it. We also, most of the time, not looking straight. Like, always looking left or right. Who is the all-time F1 GOAT? Well, I leave that up for the people themselves to judge that, right? Everyone has their own one. And I guess that's also what makes it nice, right? To have fans having their favorite driver or not. This might be a dumb question, but how do F1 drivers train? Like, do they do practice races, friendlies? Unfortunately, we can't really practice a lot in F1. Yeah, we have a few test days. But like, throughout the year, we cannot drive the F1 car a lot. So, we spend a lot of time on our simulator. So, more virtual. It's, of course, to reduce the cost as well. Otherwise, people go... Our team go testing a lot. So, that's the only way to try and make sure you keep developing your F1 car and try and get more performance out of it. Pit stops. When to undercut, overcut? Yeah, I mean, it depends a bit on the track layout, the tire deck. You know, in some tracks, an undercut is, of course, very strong because the wear on the tires is very high. So, when you're getting to the end of a stint, you might be, let's say, two seconds slower than when you put a new tire set on. So, then it's very important to know when to undercut. But on some tracks, the tire deck is not very high. So, basically, every lap, of course, the fuel load is coming down. And that's actually giving you more lap time than actually the wear is increasing. So, then an overcut can sometimes work as well. Like Baku sometimes, actually, because then the warm-up with the tires also out of the box can be quite tough. And especially between walls, you always take a little bit more caution on the outlap. So, yeah, there are a few tracks where overcuts work. But mainly, I would say, undercuts are the way to go. Out of curiosity, how many hours does the driver actually spend in the car training and practicing? And how many hours do they spend training, practicing on the in-house sim? Too many hours. Throughout a race weekend, I mean, you have the practice hours. Then you have qualifying and the race. So, what is it? Three hours of practice, more or less. And then how many hours do they spend training, practicing on the in-house sim? You do, at least for me, 20, 25 days a year. I would say it's more like nine to five a day. So, you do quite a lot throughout the year. And then besides that, of course, you're constantly discussing a lot of things with the team, even when you're not sitting in the sim or the real car. What is the greatest step in victory, in your opinion? For me, it's the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. Honestly, for me, it's difficult to pick one. Like I said before, probably winning your first one was still an amazing one. Yeah, there have been some really good ones. I don't know. I cannot pick, to be honest. How different will 2026 F1 cars be to drive? They will be very different. The engine is already completely different. So, that will require a different kind of driving style. The cars, naturally, as well. It will be, I think, a big change for everyone to get on top of these things. And especially, I think, the first few races, you will see quite a big difference between the teams and understanding what to do. I don't think even we know fully what is exactly going to happen. So, yeah, try and not make it too complicated. What specific innovation or rule change in Formula 1 over the past decade has most genuinely improved the competitiveness or excitement of the race, as well? I guess it's a bit of a love-hate relationship. But I do think DRS has helped to race a bit more in some tracks. Unfortunately, with having so much downforce on the car, sometimes it's very hard to follow. That's why, yeah, we need the DRS sometimes. So, opening the rear wing up on the straights to be able to fight on the straights and into the braking zones. Otherwise, I think you would have had a lot of boring races in some tracks. All right, that's it. Thank you for all the questions and see you next time.