Once Tired of It, Max Verstappen Misses Dutch National Anthem Amid Piling Losses

In one of his previous streams, Max Verstappen jokingly got offended when the Dutch national anthem was played, claiming he was tired of hearing it. This was during the days of Red Bull’s on-track dominance where the Dutchman was almost winning regularly.

But the likes of McLaren and Mercedes have caught up to the Bulls massively in the recent races. Naturally, the wins have dried up with the Dutchman having not won a race since the 2024 Spanish GP.

It would appear that as a consequence, Verstappen has started missing hearing the Dutch national anthem on the regular. During a recent stream, a fan asked if the Dutch national anthem could be played, which the host denied.

But Verstappen hilariously intervened. The three-time world champion was quoted on X (formerly Twitter) as saying, “I would actually like to hear it, it’s been a while.”

Since the Spanish GP, the sport has seen three different drivers take the race win away from Verstappen. George Russell won the Austrian GP, Lewis Hamilton won his home race at Silverstone and inherited the race win at Belgium last weekend. Oscar Piastri registered his maiden Grand Prix win at the Hungarian GP.

Red Bull risk losing Constructors’ title in 2024, Max Verstappen all alone

With McLaren and Mercedes being the closest rivals to Red Bull on track this season, their rivals are slowly eating away at the Milton-Keynes-based team’s lead. McLaren are only forty-two points behind Red Bull and Ferrari close behind in third.

That being said, Max Verstappen still holds a comfortable lead over Lando Norris in the driver’s standings with a seventy-eight-point cushion. However, Red Bull was touted to replace Sergio Perez mid-season to save their bid for the Constructors’ crown. A poor run of form has meant that the #11 driver has only contributed around 30% of the team’s points this year.

But those plans are now seemingly on hold as a reported intervention by F1’s commercial rights holders, Liberty Media, and Mexican business magnate, Carlos Slim have blocked Red Bull’s decision to axe the Guadalajara-born racing driver.