Max Verstappen Sets the Stage: Inside the Pre-Suzuka Emergency Talks
Apr.7 - Max Verstappen initiated the recent emergency technical meeting at Red Bull's Milton-Keynes factory, preceding his breakthrough first win from pole at Suzuka.
Given the obvious pace and handling problems of the 2025 car, amid raging speculation the quadruple world champion may quit the team, Verstappen is now scooping up unprecedented praise for his performance against the odds.
"I did not bet on this one," advisor Dr Helmut Marko admitted to De Telegraaf at Suzuka. "I was too scared.
"Max drove 53 qualifying laps on the limit. Nobody else can do that. It was unbelievable."
Fernando Alonso is not known for praising rivals, but the two-time champion described Verstappen's qualifying lap at Suzuka as "magical".
When asked if his performance feels as special to him as they do to the rest of the paddock, 27-year-old Verstappen admitted late on Sunday: "Yes, it does."
As for all the superlatives being thrown his way, he added: "I mean it's nice, but I'm a bit of a person who doesn't listen to the positives and the negatives. I'm just in the middle, you know."
Verstappen also told Viaplay after the Japanese GP, where he closed the points deficit to Lando Norris to a single point: "I'm very happy with what I'm doing.
"I don't even want to think about if I had been in that other car," he said, referring to the pace-setting McLaren. "Then you wouldn't have seen me anymore."
The interviewer joked that he would be in Tokyo by the time second place reaches the chequered flag: "Maybe, yes," the Dutchman giggled.
"But it doesn't matter, because it's not going to happen."
Verstappen is more strongly linked with Mercedes or Aston Martin for the future, as he insists that despite his Suzuka win from pole, the problem with the 2025 Red Bull is "not fixed".
Marko explained that Red Bull engineers had adjusted "every bolt" on the RB21 throughout the weekend, days after they had got together for crucial technical talks - with Verstappen in attendance - at Milton-Keynes.
Verstappen admits he insisted that the meeting take place on site, with no one participating by video link. "Do you know what the problem is in the world at the moment?" he told Viaplay.
"So many people want to work from home and not from the factory anymore. I think that's a big problem. It makes you lazy, distracted, and then you're not fully focused on what you have to do.
"The same applies to the moments when we have meetings. Sometimes it's nice to just look people in the eye. Old-school communication."
One outcome of last week's in-person meeting was the appointment of a new engineer to Verstappen's side of the garage - Sergio Perez's former race engineer, Hugh Bird.
"I work very well together with GP," said the reigning world champion, referring to Gianpiero Lambiase, "and I also had another performance engineer this weekend with Hugh Bird.
"I worked with Hugh in the past, until 2020," Verstappen explained. "That went very well. In the end, we made the right choices before we went into qualifying."
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