For the past few months the rumour mill has been industriously grinding out stories signalling a variety of ‘next moves’ for Max Verstappen, ranging from leaving Red Bull for Mercedes to quitting Formula 1 entirely.
Some were more far-fetched than others but Verstappen was palpably disengaged and disgruntled at grand prix weekends. Arguably the process began last year, when the RB20 slid from competitiveness after Miami – and Max became so disenchanted that he began to spend enough time sim racing during weekends for it to be viewed as an impediment to his real-world performance. After Hungary he was either banned from – or agreed to stop, depending on the hysteria level of the reportage – sim racing during GP weekends.
In the background he continued to invest a great deal of energy in his GT racing team, famously testing a GT3 Ferrari under the nom-de-wheel Franz Hermann this summer.
But Max’s attention has snapped back to F1 during this double-header as he performed before his home crowd at the penultimate Dutch GP, then enjoyed a boost to his RB21 with an upgrade package which included a new floor and front wing. And both team and driver feel the uplift will not be limited to Monza; the upgrade package was not track-specific.
“Baku, the fast circuits, I'm very optimistic,” Red Bull driver advisor Helmut Marko told Autosport.
“I hope for Singapore, the only race we haven’t won so far. Normally on slow circuits [recent Red Bulls have underperformed]... but I believe now everything is possible in this period.
“Max is motivated like I haven't seen him for a long time. So he is even not talking about GT.”
That's what Helmut thinks, but it has emerged that Verstappen will race in two VLN events this month, one this coming weekend at the Nurburgring and another two weeks later, between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix.
It was important for Red Bull’s relationship with its star asset that it was seen to do something at the Italian Grand Prix, which was a particular low point last season. There, Verstappen laboured to sixth place and thundered afterwards, “In 2023 we still had the most dominant car, but we have turned it into a monster.”
