“Real, Relaxed and Doesn’t Act High and Mighty”: Max Verstappen May Be a God on the Track But Acts Nothing Like It

Max Verstappen is perhaps a misunderstood personality. Although he is known for being intense and ruthless on track, people who know him personally often testify differently. They often describe the Dutchman’s persona to be very genuine, cheerful, and approachable. His father, Jos Verstappen, and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko have often also had similar things to say about the 26-year-old. Now, even Dutch presenter Jay Jay Boske has joined this bandwagon.

In a Dutch podcast on Kijk.nl, Boske showered praises on Max Verstappen’s off-track personality alongside songwriter Flemming Freddy Viguurs. As seen in a clip on Twitter (now X), he elaborated on how “friendly” the three-time champion was to him when he once worked with him. The 26-year-old interacted very nicely with Boske and shared insights about sim racing with him.

Even his guest, Flemming Freddy Viguurs, cited a similar experience with Verstappen. Flemming once spent an hour with the Dutch racer. He provided some details about the Red Bull driver’s persona by stating, “He’s real, relaxed, and doesn’t act high and mighty. And that’s maybe the most important.”

Boske had a similar point previously on how Max never acted like the racing god he is on track. He said, “He made jokes, he was sympathetic, he even knew things about me. And it was very chill.”

Often, many have negative stereotypes about F1 drivers that are short-tempered. While Verstappen has such a public perception, Boske cited that his experience was very contrasting to this perception and what was told to him.

Both Flemming and Boske felt that while Verstappen is a big star in the F1 world, he is quite humble and down-to-earth off-track. The former even highlighted how the Dutchman likes simple things like other people such as playing FIFA on PlayStation.

Max Verstappen once stated the human side of sporting GOATs

Max Verstappen is steadily climbing the ladder of becoming one of the greatest F1 drivers in history. While many claim that he has achieved the GOAT status with his three world titles and 54 wins, some still debate it. Regardless, Verstappen is nonchalant about this perception. He highlighted how all sporting GOATs are eventually humans.

When asked in an interview about how he feels about getting compared with Lionel Messi, Tiger Woods, and Roger Federer, the 26-year-old was quirky in his response. He cited how “everyone goes to the same bathroom”.

Despite the quirky analogy, the Red Bull driver’s point was very real. He elaborated, “One can [play] football [soccer] better, one can race a bit better, and the other can run better. But in the end, everyone’s good in their sport, but in the end, we’re all humans”.

Verstappen usually shows this casual approach to not being too bothered with his achievements. After clinching his first world title in 2021, the Dutchman has relatively calmed down and behaves a lot more calculative on track.

The former Toro Rosso driver is keeping a grounded perspective after having to grind his way to the top of F1. All those midfield struggles and collisions have shaped and molded his race craft and understanding.

The trajectory of success Verstappen is on currently, he can easily scale the statistical benchmarks of being an F1 GOAT. Nonetheless, one would hope the negative image of his persona as Red Bull’s bad boy evolves as it did for Sebastian Vettel.