So far, no teammate has been able to hold their own against Max Verstappen: Jacques Villeneuve does not believe this is because “the car is made for Max.”
Whether it’s Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, or Yuki Tsunoda: Max Verstappen’s teammates to date have all been overshadowed by the four-time world champion. They couldn’t get to grips with the Red Bull and weren’t able to get the same performance out of the car as the Dutchman.
This has repeatedly led to speculation in the past that the team would tailor and develop its cars to suit Verstappen. “Everyone always says, ‘Oh, but the car is made for Max. Poor, poor second driver,’” recalls Jacques Villeneuve in the High Performance podcast.
However, the 1997 Formula 1 world champion does not share this opinion. “That’s not actually the case,” says Villeneuve. “Max is working on it, making the car better and better.” And that’s exactly what his teammates didn’t do in the past, or rather, they had difficulties doing so, believes the former Formula 1 driver.
Villeneuve: “Max Verstappen is getting faster and faster”
“If you’re not able to drive the car or figure out where the problem lies during the season, you’ll get slower and slower. Not because you’re actually slower, but because Max is getting faster and faster. That’s because you don’t really understand what’s happening with the car.”
“Of course you work with Max, and of course the car becomes uncontrollable for you at some point,” Villeneuve recalls. “We saw that with [Sergio] Perez. Every year they started the season on equal terms, and that was it. Perez didn’t slow down – Max just got faster and faster.”
The 54-year-old Canadian had already been critical of Yuki Tsunoda this season, who had been significantly behind his teammate. He called on the team to put a “young rookie or someone surprising” in the cockpit. Isack Hadjar will drive for Red Bull in the 2026 season.
Verstappen understands what happens with the car
Villeneuve believes that so far only Verstappen “could actually understand what happens with the car” and was therefore able to make the right decisions. “Sometimes you have understeer because the front axle is too soft, other times because it’s too hard. Yet another time, it all depends on what exactly happens.”
“And then there’s the aero package,” says the 1997 Formula 1 world champion, highlighting another difficulty. “The closer you are to the ground, the more grip you have. Then you need a very stiff car. But a stiff car slips mechanically.” In this case, you have to find the right way to improve.
“So you have to figure out how to get into the perfect zone where the car becomes an extension of your body and you don’t have to think about it anymore,” says Villeneuve, who is convinced: “Very few drivers can do that.” And Max Verstappen is one of them.
