Jos Verstappen isn’t buying Sergio Perez’s claim that life in Red Bull’s second seat is a death trap for any driver not named Max.
Speaking to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf after Interlagos, the former F1 racer and father of the four-time World Champion dismissed the idea that Red Bull builds its car around Verstappen at the expense of whoever’s on the other side of the garage. Perez, who left the team at the end of 2024, had argued no driver — not even Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc — could “survive” alongside Max because the job requires constant adaptation to his needs.
“I would say the same thing” in Perez’s position, Jos admitted, before taking a pin to the balloon. “But I and everyone who is close to the action know that this is not the case. Sometimes even the brightest minds don’t know why a car reacts differently, but Max has the ability to adapt to the car in all circumstances. Of course, he gives his feedback on how the car feels, but that’s normal. Everyone always says that it’s all about him. Sorry, but that’s really not the case.”
It’s not the first time a Red Bull No.2 has struggled to live in Verstappen’s world. Perez was supposed to be the antidote to the churn, yet over 2023–24 the gap only grew. In 2025, with Yuki Tsunoda stepping up and Liam Lawson making cameo appearances, the distance to Verstappen has remained stark. Lawson went point-less across two rounds; Tsunoda has scraped together a modest haul while Max has banked a season’s worth of podiums and wins. The scoreboard tells an unflinching story.
Perez, now watching the title fight from afar, painted a bleak picture of that seat in an interview with Sky F1. “Obviously, being next to Max is very difficult. But being next to Max in Red Bull, it’s something people don’t understand,” he said. “There is no driver that can survive there. It doesn’t matter if you bring Hamilton or Leclerc… It’s a very unique driving style that you have to constantly be adapting to the needs of Max. Simple as that.”
The timing of the back-and-forth is no coincidence. Verstappen has bulldozed his way back into this year’s championship conversation with a run that’s been pure Verstappen: six straight podiums, including wins in Monza, Baku and Austin. What looked like a title tilt slipping away has snapped back into view, the gap to points leader Lando Norris sliced to the mid-30s with four to go. Red Bull senses opportunity and has gone “all in” around its lead charge — not an unusual posture for a team in a title scrap.
But Jos argues the premise is off. It’s not the car molded to Max; it’s Max molding himself to whatever the car is on a given weekend. “He has turned an inferior car into a winning car,” he said. “That is unique.” You can read that as fatherly pride, but there’s a kernel of truth those inside the paddock repeat: Verstappen lives at the edge of what the rear axle can handle, and he’s quicker than almost anyone at finding the limit when set-ups move away from comfort. The car doesn’t become Max’s — Max becomes the car’s.
That distinction matters in how Red Bull frames its second seat. If the car isn’t intrinsically “built for Max,” then the persistent deficit on the other side is down to execution. In a year when McLaren and Ferrari have traded blows and the margins are paper-thin, it’s no surprise the spotlight has drifted back to Milton Keynes and the role next to the main event.
It also explains why the queue for 2026 is already forming. Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar has emerged as a serious candidate to make the jump when the new power unit era begins. He’d join a list of brave souls who’ve tried to stand within DRS range of Verstappen and lasted varying degrees of time. The reward is obvious: win in that car and your stock goes stratospheric. The risk is equally clear.
For now, the noise suits Max just fine. He thrives amid it, even seems to weaponise it. Every time the conversation turns to whether anyone can live with him in equal machinery, he answers in the only currency that counts in November: points on Sunday.
Perez’s wider point — that the environment is ruthless and the development path relentless — isn’t controversial. Red Bull has never pretended it’s a finishing school. But the notion that the car is tailored to exclude anyone but Verstappen? Jos Verstappen has heard that one for a decade and isn’t having it.
Strip away the headlines and you’re left with something simpler. Red Bull’s title bid lives or dies on Verstappen’s ability to haul whatever he’s given to the front. He’s done that across four consecutive championships and, somehow, again this season. The second car’s job is to help, not hinder. That remains the unsolved puzzle.
Whether it’s Tsunoda now or Hadjar next, the challenge is the same as it was for Perez: don’t worry about what the car wants from Max. Figure out what it wants from you — and get there fast enough to matter.
