Drivers
With F1, he’s all-in, all the time when he’s at the track or preparing to be. When he’s not, you won’t see him wasting one moment on anything that’s not purely about racing. It’s not an approach many of his peers adopt, but it works.
Only Verstappen could have conjured a fightback from 104 points down to be in the mix for a fifth straight title last December; while he fell agonisingly short, the 28-year-old seemed fulfilled even by being able to make McLaren sweat. “He’s the best sensor we have in the car,” team principal Laurent Mekies marvelled. “And also the most expensive …”.
You get what you pay for in F1, and Verstappen is worth every cent. How he approaches 2026 – and the ramifications of if, for once, he can’t make the difference – is one of the biggest subplots of the new regulations.
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