Verstappen’s Take on Ferrari's Driver Strategy
Max Verstappen left Mexico City with another win and a clear conviction about how he’d run a top team – and Ferrari would not like the blueprint.
The Dutchman watched Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc tear into each other at the start of the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari pair locked in a fierce fight into Turn 1. While they squabbled, Verstappen slipped through the chaos and into control of the race. He went on to win, Hamilton recovered to second, and Leclerc’s day unraveled to fourth after a time penalty.
From Verstappen’s point of view, the outcome was no accident.
Speaking to Viaplay during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, he was blunt about what he’d change if he were in charge at Maranello.
“I've said it before, and a lot of people often don't agree, but if I was a team principal, I'd never get two number one drivers because then you get things like this,” he said. “One won't yield for the other because they both think they can win, and that's how I am too. And if I was a team principal, I'd change this.”
The Mexico start, in his eyes, was a textbook case. Two elite drivers, both convinced they are the team’s spearhead, neither willing to blink. The result: lost time, lost track position, and an open door for the reigning champion.
Verstappen went further, arguing that Ferrari’s season would look very different with a defined hierarchy.
“If you had a clear number one and number two, they would've gone through the first corner as P1 and P2 and finished like that. Or P1 and P3, that's fine too, because as a team you're still scoring great points.”
Ferrari, for their part, have consistently pushed back against that idea. The Scuderia insist both drivers are free to race, free to fight, and free to decide matters on track. It is a romantic stance, steeped in Ferrari’s racing heritage, but one that comes with risk when the margins are as tight as they are now.
The fallout from Mexico carried into what became a bruising weekend at Interlagos. Ferrari left Brazil with only six points to show for their efforts, Leclerc and Hamilton finishing eighth and ninth. The team still sit second in the standings, 95 points clear of Red Bull, but the gap flatters a team that has stumbled just when it needed clean weekends.
Inside Ferrari, the tension needed addressing. Team principal Fred Vasseur brought his drivers together between the two races, flying back to Europe and then reconvening the squad to clear the air.
“We did [the meeting] yesterday evening because I had to fly back to Europe between the two races, but it went well,” Vasseur said at Interlagos. “It was good to discuss, good to clarify my position and their position. It was good to do and now we turn the page and we are focused on the next one.”
The Frenchman insists the rules of engagement have not changed. The message, he says, has been the same all year.
“The guidelines is still the same. They accumulated perhaps a bit of frustration because they are starting each weekend side-by-side and you have a kind of accumulation of fact. But at the end of the day, the guidelines is always the same.
“They need to respect each other, they are two competitors with the fighting spirit for sure, but they need to have respect for the other one, but mainly and firstly, they need to respect the brand, the team, the people working at home, the people working on track. I think we are putting a lot of effort on this, and the message was clear and will stay clear.”
So Ferrari double down on equality. Verstappen doubles down on hierarchy. One philosophy prioritises pure racing between teammates; the other, the cold arithmetic of points and titles.
Mexico showed what happens when two number ones collide and a third driver pounces. The real question now is whether Ferrari’s faith in freedom will carry them forward – or keep leaving the door wide open for rivals like Verstappen to walk straight through.
