Max Verstappen reveals ‘surprising’ aspect of F1 2025 title near-miss

Max Verstappen admitted his surprise at having gained fans for how he was able to compete in the F1 2025 season.

While holding a huge fanbase globally, the four-time World Champion has previously been the subject of booing on the podium during his most dominant streaks, with fans hoping for different race winners, but after a more difficult season in 2025, Verstappen reflected on the change of opinion that has come his way in the campaign just gone.

Max Verstappen: ‘I guess maybe they finally start to realise who I really am’

Verstappen was 104 points behind the World Championship lead after his home race at Zandvoort, but was able to claw his way back into contention by the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Lando Norris did enough to secure his maiden title, however, but Verstappen was both magnanimous in defeat and has chosen to be pragmatic about his year, with Red Bull’s competitiveness having not been where he anticipated early in the season.

While he fell short of what would have been a comeback for the ages, he gained admirers along the way for managing to outperform both McLaren drivers for the final third of the season.

Having unfairly been the subject of booing after winning races in the past, the Red Bull driver explained that being the hunter rather than the hunted brings its advantages.

When asked how it felt to know that he gained fans for how he competed in 2025, Verstappen told Red Bull’s in-house Talking Bull podcast: “I mean, surprising.

“I think naturally, of course, with an underdog role, people will start to support you a bit more, but I guess maybe they finally start to realise who I am – who I really am.

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“I mean, it works for me. It’s how I want to be, I don’t try to be a fake person in the paddock or whatever, that’s just not how I am.

“Especially, of course, in F1, when you have a lot of success, or in general, you’re doing well, it’s easy to maybe forget about that, but that’s why it’s very important to have always the most important people around you that actually do tell you if you’re maybe acting a bit out or weird. And I am very lucky that, of course, I have great family, but also really good friends.”

Having spoken on several occasions about his feeling of relaxation whether or not the title went his way in 2025, Verstappen elaborated that the number of championships on which he finishes his career is immaterial to him.

With that outlook, he joked a longer life could be heading his way because of the lack of stress he likes to take with him.

“Just people in general take life way too serious, especially also with your profession,” he explained.

“I mean, yeah, it is super important to do a good job, but the end of the day, I mean, you do that to what? Maybe 40? I mean, that’s not even the average, right? [There are] some extraordinary drivers that stay in it a little bit longer, but after you still have a lot of years to enjoy or do something else in your life.

“And then, honestly, it doesn’t really matter what you have done, like, when I’m going to be 50 years old, 60 years old, do you think I care if I’ve won four or seven [titles]? I mean, what is that going to matter to my life? You know, I’m still going to order the same drink. I’m still going to eat the same food, it’s not going to change what I’m going to do after in my life.

“So, that’s why I tried to also just look at it a lot more in a relaxed way. Just don’t stress about it. Stress is very bad for you, and you’re going to die sooner if you have a lot of stress, so I’m going to be 250 years old!”

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