Max Verstappen celebrated Nico Hülkenberg’s maiden podium at the British Grand Prix, showing a more composed and sportsmanlike side during a challenging season for Red Bull. Photo: AFP
Image: AFP
While the 2025 Formula 1 season has been an uphill battle for Max Verstappen, battling two blisteringly quick McLarens, the world champion is no longer being cast as the sport’s pantomime villain.
In fact, F1 fans — and even a few celebrities — have vouched for his more “stand-up” personality this season.
Admittedly, the incident with George Russell a couple of weeks ago brought back flashbacks of the 2021 Verstappen, but his overall behaviour this year has been composed and sportsmanlike. Case in point: he fist-bumped the air in celebration of Nico Hülkenberg’s maiden podium, even after spinning out of the same race.
Verstappen might have another spanner in the works to deal with for the second half of this season, as Red Bull announced this week that team Principal Christian Horner was sacked – with Racing Bulls Principal Laurent Mekies set to take over – but a more composed driver is developing this season.
He brushed off Kimi Antonelli’s crash into him at the Austrian GP — which forced him to retire — as “one of those things”. The Verstappen of old would hardly have given the media the time of day after such frustration, but this season, he seems more relaxed, even while sitting nearly 100 points behind in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Perhaps Verstappen was misrepresented by the media all along — that’s certainly the view of British actor Damson Idris, who stars alongside Brad Pitt in the upcoming F1 film.
Speaking during the movie’s media tour, Idris admitted: “I always thought from the outside looking in that Max Verstappen didn’t have any friends.
"That’s the way he is kind of portrayed in the media. But from being in the world of Formula 1, they all love each other. Max is cool with everyone, so that was really surprising to me.”
On Sunday at Silverstone, Verstappen started from pole position but finished a disappointing fifth after spinning in the wet. Red Bull had gambled on a new, ultra-nimble rear wing that offered reduced downforce in pursuit of better pace — a strategy that worked in qualifying but failed in the race, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris applying relentless pressure.
Red Bull had also made floor upgrades ahead of the Grand Prix, but the car proved a handful throughout the race. Despite the frustration, Verstappen still made a point of celebrating Hülkenberg’s achievement. Even commentators on Sunday questioned whether the “old Verstappen” would have done the same.
“It was just a very difficult race for us,” Verstappen said.
“Even after that spin I had no pace. I was just stuck with that group, and it was very difficult to drive. Naturally, we knew it was going to be tough in the wet with that [low downforce] rear wing we had on the car.
But even then, I think we were still struggling a lot. Even in the last few laps, the slick tyres were quite a handful. A few things to look at, of course, but we were no match for the McLarens. On the other hand, when we have a difficult day, we try to collect the points.
To see Nico on that podium — for me at least — it’s nice to see.”
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