In every sport, those operating at the highest level have to have a degree of arrogance about them. It is all but impossible to succeed at the very top if you aren’t obsessed with winning, doing whatever it takes in order to see yourself as a winner at the end of it all.
Sometimes, such arrogance can be well hidden from the public and your competitors, whilst other times it ends up coming out in unhealthy ways that result in your image taking something of a battering.
In the case of Max Verstappen, there are some that love him and many that don’t.
Where does the truth lie?
Who is Max Verstappen?
If you have spent virtually any time recently watching Formula One, or even if you only have a passing interest in the sport, you will be under no illusions as to who Max Verstappen is. Born in the Belgian city of Hasselt on the 30th of September 1997, Verstappen was brought up in Maaseik by his parents.
Given the fact that his father, Jos Verstappen, was a Formula One driver and his mother, Sophie Kumpen, was a kart racer, it is perhaps not all that surprising that Verstappen entered the world of racing at an early age and went on to enjoy a huge amount of success in the sport.
@formula1hd♬ original sound – formula1hd
He endured a tough upbringing, living with his father when his parents separated, whilst his sister lived with his mother. Having spent most of his own career at the back of the grid, Jos Verstappen was determined that his son would not endure the same thing and bought him his first kart when he was six-years-old.
His father obviously had the contacts and the know-how to work out how best to take young Max from being a precocious child to becoming one of the best drivers in the world, beginning his junior racing career in 2005 and slowly making his way up through the ranks.
An Undoubted Talent
There is no questioning the fact that Max Verstappen is one of the best Formula One drivers around. Although his 2021 Drivers’ Championship was tinged with controversy, with Lewis Hamilton feeling as though he was screwed over by the Race Director, the fact that he went on to win it again in 2022, 2023 and 2024 is proof that he is someone who knows what he’s doing when he gets behind the wheel of a motor car.
Even before then, though, Verstappen was the dominant driver for Red Bull and had become the youngest ever Grand Prix winner when he won the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016.
On this day in 2021, Max Verstappen in Red Bull RB16B – Honda RA621H scored his first #MonacoGP win, and became the first Dutch driver ever to lead the F1 championship standings.
— Zdravko (@zdravkost.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 11:42
It obviously always helps when you’re in the best car on the grid, which is absolutely the position that Verstappen found himself in when racing for Red Bull. Of course, drivers will argue that you can only drive the car that you’re given, so the Dutchman can hardly be blamed for that.
When he won his fourth World Championship, he was just 27-years-old and many felt that that meant that he had entered the conversation around who is the best Formula One driver of all time. Only five other drivers have won four World Championships, whilst only three have won five, which will be his next aim.
He’s a Sore Loser
The best in the business, regardless of the sport that you’re talking about, don’t like to lose. Many will take it as a personal affront if their car comes up short when racing, yet there have been numerous examples of Verstappen skirting a little close to the edge of what’s acceptable, if not sailing by it altogether.
George Russell, driving for Mercedes-Benz at the time, summed up Verstappen’s personality when he said, “I’ve seen many people in life push and shove people around to get what they want. You need somebody to stand up to individuals like that – and nobody has done that whatsoever.”
In the May of 2025, Zak Brown, the Chief Executive Officer of McLaren, labelled Verstappen ‘the worst loser on the grid’. If you have ever watched any F1 coverage and heard the manner in which the Dutchman speaks to his team, you can understand exactly where Brown is coming from.
He is often thought of as engaging in dangerous driving, which some feel puts the safety of other drivers at risk. Whilst it is obviously true that you don’t become a winner in any sport by being nice, Verstappen’s driving techniques are not ones that a lot of other people think are sportsmanlike.
