McLaren talks, 'numb' cars and being 'captain of the ship' - Verstappen Q&A

Max Verstappen is in a no-nonsense mood - even more than usual.

The Red Bull driver is renowned for his straight talking but now, as he discusses his 2026 season so far in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport, he is at his most uncompromising.

Perhaps it's the heat.

We're talking on the eve of last weekend's Italian Grand Prix. The temperature is into the mid-30Cs, Red Bull's hospitality unit is not coping well, and Verstappen's PR handler messages before the Dutchman turns up to suggest I find a table near a fan; the interview might be more positive that way.

Monza is the second race since the four-time world champion signed a two-year contract extension with Red Bull.

In theory, this runs to the end of 2030. In reality, it changes little. It still has performance clauses. So Verstappen is earning a bit more money but, if Red Bull are still struggling for competitiveness next year, there will remain the prospect he could look for pastures new.

Verstappen arrives and briefly adjusts the fan blowing in our direction. "It's too hot in here," he says.

Does he need a breather before we start? "No, no," he says. "I'm good. It was just that it was super-hot in the corner when I was doing the print [media]."

OK, then. Let's go.

Verstappen is always a great interviewee. Direct, honest, uncompromising.

Now, for whatever reason, he is especially frank and open, as we discuss why he extended his contract, his discussions with McLaren, his stunning appearance at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in May, and the new Formula 1 engine rules, with which it is no secret he has a problem.

Where's your head at, Max, in terms of how the season has gone so far?

"Of course it's not where I want to be, but as a team we're trying to just learn and understand a lot of things for next year. We are not in a title fight. We are just trying to find more performance.

"Changes need to happen to the car for next year. We will not be able to change that for this year, but we just need to try and get a lot of learnings to do better next year."

What exactly is wrong with it?

"Overall we're just lacking a bit of performance. The car is not where I want it to be feeling-wise, and the through-corner balance is too hit and miss between entry, mid and exit.

"It's just fundamentally something in the car that we need to try and work on for the next year."

This has been a bit of a theme for longer than this year. How concerning is it that that's happening across a different set of regulations?

"That's exactly that. There's also things that we talk about within the team, like how can that happen, how can we fix it? That's basically what we are doing now and trying to do now.

"Some people have left, new people have come in. With the new people, we are discussing what we can do about it. Is that just some changes, a different philosophy? All these kind of things."

What made you sign a new contract?

"It comes down to also feeling well within a team. This is like a second family to me.

"The belief that you can turn things around, you can build towards hopefully a better future with other people, new people. And at the end of the day, it's not only Formula 1 for me. There are a lot of things that I'm doing next year that Red Bull is involved in as well.

"I feel good here. So this, for me, is the right place to be."

Did it take much for them to convince you to do it?

"I always said to them: 'Don't stress about it, just work on the car.' Because the faster the car goes, the easier the decision is anyway.

"I can understand, of course, maybe sometimes they were a little bit worried. But at the same time, for me, I was just worried about here, what was going on.

"At the same time, I was very busy with my stuff also outside of Formula 1. So I never really spent a lot of time talking or doing different things or trying to go somewhere else."

From the outside, it's hard to see what they could have done to convince you things will improve.

"I don't mind the challenge also. I don't have that desire or need to show in another car that I can win it, or whatever.

"It's easy to run to the fastest car and then do it all again. But it's not how I am. You cannot be the captain of the ship and as soon as there is something not working, you jump off the ship.

"It's been a bit downwards from the dominant years, but I don't mind also rebuilding it. It's another challenge as well."

You talked to Mercedes last year, McLaren this year. How serious was that?

"Of course, any kind of chat you take seriously. They're all very respectful chats. There's nothing wrong with that.

"I felt that staying was, for me, the right choice. You have to follow your heart. I could have run away very early on in my Red Bull career and gone somewhere else to try and win. If you have a little bit of patience, you do end up winning. I feel like that's my approach now as well."

What race have you enjoyed most this year?

"Probably the Nordschleife [Nurburgring 24 Hours]. It was super-cool to be able to do an endurance event with my team-mates, the guys that won with the car throughout the main season.

"We knew that we were going to be really strong. We peaked at the right time, but unfortunately the car retired. It was an incredible experience. And pure. Pure motorsport."

Your first stint, where you went from 10th to first, was so impressive.

"I was enjoying it. Not easy conditions. It started to drizzle. The track was slippery. Crashes. Code 60s [when a stretch of track is limited to 60km/h after an incident].

"Some people were like: 'Let's see how he will do in the race under pressure with all these kinds of scenarios that he has never done before.'

"But I have done them a million times on the simulator. I have done so many laps and 24-hour races on the simulator. I never felt out of depth or whatever. I was fully zoned in. I just had a great time.

"Once I was in the race, you switch to another level. I was just in a zone. It's really enjoyable."

You want to go back to Nurburgring to win that race. Is there anything else on your bucket list?

"All the endurance races. Eventually, of course also Hypercar [the world endurance championship]. I don't want to rush it. I want to do it in the right environment. On my terms. And competitive."

Is it true you want to do Le Mans with Fernando Alonso?

"We've talked about it. I mean, look at Fernando. He's 45 and he's still flying. Especially for Le Mans, with his experience, it could be a good option. It needs to fit our schedules. It needs to make sense. It needs to be on my terms. And there needs to be a real chance to go there and win it."

You have been clear about your distaste for the new F1 engine rules this year and at the Japanese Grand Prix you said: 'Is it worth it?' What convinced you it was?

"Hoping that it will be better in the future. Accepting where we are at the moment. Still the love for the sport. Not at the moment the driving. But the love for the sport.

"I love competition, naturally. I just hope that in the coming years, towards 2030, it can only get better. And to start to make the best of it, because these are the rules for the next four or five years."

So that people can understand why the drivers have been upset this year, what is it about these hybrid engines, and the need to recharge the batteries, that detracts from the best drivers' abilities?

"In the history of the sport, normally the driver that is the most committed, the latest on the brakes, earlier on throttle, committing in the high speed, they get rewarded, because you just gain that time in the corner.

"But now you're constantly thinking about, 'In this corner I might have to hold in a bit. Go later on throttle. Or brake earlier. Or lift off. And then I have more top speed.' Stuff like that. It's so unnatural. It's so not how it should be.

"No disrespect. And I hope no-one picks up on this. But look at Yuki [Tsunoda]. He jumps in the [Racing Bulls] car [at the Dutch Grand Prix]. Never driven the car before. Immediately competitive.

"Liam [Lawson] jumps from the Racing Bulls to the Red Bull - immediately competitive. It's because these cars are numb to your driver inputs.

"Of course, yes, you still have to do a good lap. And you still have to commit. The fastest drivers will always come out on top. But it's really, really limited, like a choke hold or something. You're held back."

Formula 1 as a sport has accepted that it needs to change, and the internal combustion-electrical split is changing to 60-40 in two steps by 2028. But what would you like to see for the new engine formula 1 in 2030 or 2031?

"It has to go back to a V8, just for drivability already. When you drive the old cars, you cannot imagine the difference in how the engine responds, or the drivability you get. And how terrible or horrible it actually is now compared to just having a V8."

What about compared to last year's turbo-hybrid engines?

"Also horrible, the feeling compared to a V8. The V8 is so much better. It is so much more free, lighter. Cars are so heavy nowadays.

"It is better to just have a smaller V8 engine, much lighter. Try to really limit the battery size to maybe like a kind of push-to-pass battery. But you should not have it involved or any kind of proper normal performance running."

And you would have no turbo either?

"Ideally not, because that introduces turbo lag."

So what do you enjoy about F1 these days? The competition and prestige more than the actual purity of the racing?

"I have been lucky that the years before have been quite decent [in terms of results]. Not how I wanted it to be with the battery side of things.

"But just the emotion of the V8, of the V10, back in the day, when I was a kid. You walk around, you hear these cars go out, you have goosebumps.

"Even if you go 300km/h compared to now sometimes 350, 360, it doesn't matter.

"It is the emotion of the noise that you get from these cars, of the vibration. It is just another level. And I really hope that that thing will come back."

People see you as a kind of winning machine. But obviously your character is much more complex than that. Can you explain that contradiction?

"I am a winning machine when I need to be. But I can also switch off, and enjoy my life outside of racing.

"But anything racing-related, of course I am a winning machine. I demand a lot from the people in the team. They also expect me to perform and do the best job I can.

"That is what you get paid for at the end of the day. We have the same target. The same goal.

"Of course I can be very outspoken. But that is what I like. That is also with our culture.

"And that is how I approach my life also outside of F1, with my GT3 team. We do not hold back. At least for me, you need to be like that to really get the best out of everyone."

Why is speaking your mind and being honest so important to you?

"I just want to be myself. I know there are a lot of politics in Formula 1, and I understand also between the teams there are a lot of politics.

"You will always speak for yourself in terms of where you think you might have an advantage or not as a team. That is normal. Also with the engines and the chassis, it is the same thing.

"When it is good, it is good. When it is bad, it is bad. You will hear it from me because that is how I like to operate. And I am not holding back from that."