Jacques Villeneuve has shut down claims that Crimson Bull tailor their F1 automobiles to go well with Max Verstappen.
4-time world champion Verstappen continued his dominance over his Crimson Bull teammates in 2025 by scoring 421 factors in comparison with Yuki Tsunoda’s measly tally of 33.
Verstappen got here inside two factors of successful a fifth consecutive world title however in the end missed out on the championship to McLaren’s Lando Norris in a three-way showdown within the Abu Dhabi season finale.
The contrasting fortunes at Crimson Bull has led to hypothesis that the workforce’s automobiles are particularly designed to go well with Verstappen’s driving type.
However 1997 F1 world champion Villeneuve has rubbished such rumours.
“All people’s been saying, ‘Oh, however the automotive is made for Max. Poor, poor second driver.’ Really, no. Max is engaged on it, making the automotive higher and higher,” Villeneuve advised the Excessive Efficiency podcast.
“When you’re incapable of driving it or determining what the difficulty is through the season, you will find yourself going slower and slower and slower. Not since you’re really slower, however as a result of Max will go sooner and sooner. That is since you’re incapable of really understanding what’s going on with the automotive.
“So, clearly, they’ll work with Max and clearly, the automotive will develop into undrivable for you. We noticed it with [Sergio] Perez. Yearly, they’d begin the season on par, and that was it. Perez did not begin going slower. Max began going sooner and sooner and sooner.
“Quite simple. As a result of he might really comprehend what was occurring with the automotive. Typically you will have understeer as a result of the entrance is simply too comfortable, different occasions as a result of it is too stiff. Another time all of it relies upon what is definitely taking place.
“And in the midst of that, you need to add the aero package deal. The nearer you might be to the bottom, the extra grip you have got. So, you want a really stiff automotive. However the stiff automotive mechanically slides.
“So, it is advisable determine what it is advisable do to get into that excellent zone the place you drive the automotive, the place the automotive turns into an additional a part of your physique that you do not have to consider it anymore. Only a few drivers can try this.”
Verstappen units file straight
Earlier this yr, Verstappen himself addressed the theories.
“I simply adapt to what I’ve acquired. It’s not what I like, it’s simply what I’ve,” the Dutchman insisted when talking with Chris Harris on the Ford Efficiency YouTube channel.
“So I’ve to attempt to drive to it as a result of that’s the quickest option to go across the monitor, but it surely’s not what I personally would love. I’d like completely different bits on the automotive.”
Requested whether or not it makes him completely satisfied when he’s praised for his spectacular performances, Verstappen replied: “After all it does, however I’m not doing it to point out the folks what I’m able to.
“I’m doing it as a result of I wish to be the perfect with myself. I’m fairly in that sense fairly a perfectionist, it’s by no means ok and if I can in fact come out of the automotive and say to myself ‘that’s ok’, it’s by no means ok, however fairly good.”
