Max from Austin: 'No guarantees'

Published on 23 October 2026 by Florence Cobben

After two Grands Prix-victories in a row, Max Verstappen and the Oracle Red Bull Team have touched down in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas to partipcate in the United States Grand Prix.

Max gathered in front of the gathered press on Thursday. Right off the bat, the Dutchman responded to the news that team boss Laurent Mekies has been signed to stay till 2031: “Yeah it’s been great news, I think for everyone. He fully deserves it as well. It’s very hard work, and at times it’s not been easy. For him as well. But he’s a good leader, and the atmosphere in the team is great as well. It’s only right to extend the contract.”

Under Mekies’ leadership, the team has made enormous strides forwards, building up to the past two race wins. When asked about what turned the tide in Red Bull’s favor, Max weighed in: “In the beginning we didn’t have good balance, but we brought updates to the car which seemed to work and evened out the balance a bit. For the trust of the driver it’s important, and you end up gliding less, which is better for tyre degradation. We also understand the engine better, so the whole package has become much stronger and harmonious.”

Despite the success of the team, Max wouldn’t unequivocally say they’re the favorites going into the US GP: “We’ve had two really good weekends, which of course we’re very happy with, but, that is no guarantee that the coming races will be like that as well. We had two very hot and humid races, and it seemed like our engines were performing very well in those conditions. And now we have, of course, a very dry race. A lot of factors are different. Take it step-by-step, we don’t dream too much, we stay in the present. We know where we still want to improve a lot on the car, that we of course can’t fix or change for this year, but hopefully for next year.”

Max is also critical of the circuit in Austin: “It is extremely badly bumpy, we’ve mentioned it actually for years that it’s getting a bit out of control. It’s probably worse because we have very low rise on the cornering, and most of the bumps are in the corners and not on the straights. But yeah it’s very bad, and of course you can use the excuse that the soil is the problem. But then, you should have known that and reinforced it more. I love this track, it’s one of the best layouts ever. But for me the bumps are unacceptable.”

The world champ also, upon furthering questioning, explained the physical impact the bumps on the circuit have on his body: “Last year, for example, you pull around 5 to 6G in the corners. But I had some vertical impacts which was like over 9G on my spine. Which I can tell you is really not fun, and the older you get, you think about that more and more. From the checks that I’ve done on my spine, the bottom half doesn’t look that great. People can say 'yeah, but there are worse sports out there for your body', but that’s why I’m not doing them.”

In closing, Max had some words to share about his participation in the GT World Challenge in Portugal last week: “It was very fun. I would have rather driven a little longer, but because of the penalty it was in the end only 45 minutes, and of those 45 only 27 minutes were actually race time, because we were stuck behind the safety car. But, we had a good go of it. Watching on from the sidelines is always more difficult. If you’re riding yourself, you’re the one in control. You of course don’t have a lot of time, but you can build on your performance, and the speed was there. Sadly we had the contact in the second stint and got handed a drive-through. I started a bit further back because of that, but on the other hand, it was a bit more fun for me because I had to overtake a lot of cars.”