Chris Harris: Most people in the UK have got Max Verstappen wrong

Automotive journalist and former Top Gear host Chris Harris has argued that “most people in the UK” have got Max Verstappen “wrong”.

The British journalist has opened up on meeting the four-time Formula 1 champion after driving the new Ford Mustang GTD with him.

“The thing you need to know about Max Verstappen is that most people in the UK have got him wrong, and that’s why I suppose I’m not proud of the film, but I think we’ve not done a job in repositioning how people think about him,” Harris explained on the Chris Harris on Cars podcast.

“That would be too cynical. What we’ve done is we’ve let you see who he is. And frankly, he’s one of us. He’s a very, very uncomplicated man who happens to have been born with a set of skills to drive a racing car in a manner that none of us can really understand.

“And even more bizarrely, he’s actually aware of his talent and he’s able, I think, to express what he’s doing. He chooses not to completely in that film, but that’s all part of the fun of the film, isn’t it? He’s not going to give away the secret sauce recipe. But I have to say he was just super relaxed. He was a total joy to work with.

“And I sound like I’d be an absolute sycophant here, but I tell you, if he wasn’t, I’d tell you he was a d******d, but he really wasn’t. He was everything people had told me he would be.

“The first lap out in the GTD was eye-opening.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

He added: “He just got in it and, into the first braking zone, I think he was plus-minus one metre at the maximum of what the car would do into that corner. I don’t think there was any leeway, and that was the first corner we came to. So, it’s an absolute privilege to witness that level of skill that close up.”

The Dutchman made his F1 debut at just 17 years old when he joined Carlos Sainz at Toro Rosso (now known as Racing Bulls) in 2015. He often pushed it to the limit with some aggressive moves on track, which resulted in some heavy criticism from fans and some within the championship. But since then, he has matured his driving and gone on to collect four drivers’ titles.

“I think it also reminded me that when people have judged Max – and he deserved to be judged at times, some of it was, you know, close to the bone at the beginning – we forget two things,” Harris added.

“He was so young, and he was so inexperienced. He hadn’t graduated through years and years of racing.

“I’m not sure he really knew a lot of what you could and couldn’t do in armed combat in a car. He was just given a Formula 1 car at the age where most people are trying to do their GCSEs and told to go out and fight.

“You forget, and he’s effectively matured into young adulthood as a world champion in the full view of a very, very critical media. And I suppose I almost felt parental towards him. He doesn’t need it. Good God, can he look after himself.

“But I just felt – I just imagined if that was my boy, how protective I would have been towards him. And Jos comes in for a lot of s**t, but he basically sent his kid into the viper nest at an age when most of us wouldn’t trust them to go for one night out on the piss in their local town. And look what he’s achieved. I think it’s remarkable.

“So, on a human level, he was a joy.”

He concluded: “I hope that this disappointing UK view of Max changes a bit because you know what? What he does behind the wheel – he’s a ruthless winner. He’s there to win. But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad human being.”