“I’m Not Interested”: Max Verstappen Once Snubbed the Need of Sports Psychologist in Formula 1

Max Verstappen is one of the most confident and not-so-cool-headed guys in Formula 1. Anything remotely not working in his favor can cause an outburst by the Dutch race driver.

Though, there is nothing wrong with it. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why Verstappen is among the best drivers on the grid and con the route to cement his name among the greatest ever names in the sport.

But excess anger in any sport could be harmful. Yuki Tsunoda is one example within F1. Red Bull hierarchy even hired a sports psychologist to deal with the excessively heated comments by the AlphaTauri star and make him more calm-headed.

However, Verstappen, who is also called out for the same things, doesn’t believe he needs a help of a mental health expert. In fact, he thinks his behavior on track keeps racing relevant for him.

Max Verstappen claims his calmness would signal his end

Anatomy of a Champion— a documentary released by Viaplay extensively covers the life of the Verstappen over 12 episodes. In the first episode, ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix 2022, he was asked to comment on Red Bull hiring a sports psychologist for Tsunoda. The two-time world champion clearly denied that he worked with anyone to control his ‘temper’.

“No, I didn’t work with anyone. I think if a day comes that I’m not gonna be upset about things anymore then I’m not interested in the sport anymore,” said Verstappen.

Verstappen added that he thinks some people are calm and some are hot-headed, and that’s how it works. He didn’t say it’s alright to be as it is and, in fact, added one can work around it. But he doesn’t think he needs to change his approach while expressing his emotions during race weeks.

Red Bull star threatens to leave F1

Over the past few years, F1 has been improvising on how to make the sport more visually appealing to the adding number of fans. Lately, there have been several modifications to the race weekends, with sprint races being the biggest addition.

Now, in 2023, there have been more additions to the sprint race weekends too. However, Verstappen isn’t delighted with the commercial owners of the sport trying to make race weekends more attractive.

In fact, he also has shot a threat at F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali that he would leave the sport if there are ‘too many changes’. Would the biggest motor series in the world risk losing its biggest star over the prospect of treating fans with more visuals? That remains to be seen.