Villeneuve dismisses myth: Red Bull car not tailored to Verstappen

Jacques Villeneuve has dismissed the popular paddock theory that Red Bull designs its car specifically around Max Verstappen, arguing that the performance gap to his teammates is a result of the driver's unique skill, not a rigged machine. The 1997 champion asserts that Verstappen's ability to understand, communicate, and evolve with the car is what creates an insurmountable advantage, not a factory bias.

Why it matters:

This debate cuts to the core of evaluating driver talent in Formula 1. If a car is built for one driver, it diminishes their achievements and unfairly maligns their teammates. Villeneuve's perspective reframes Verstappen's dominance as a product of supreme technical feedback and adaptation, a skill that defines the elite from the merely fast. It challenges a convenient narrative that has followed dominant driver-team pairings for decades.

The details:

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Villeneuve tackled the myth directly.

• He stated the car is not "made for Max," but rather, "Max is working on it, making the car better and better."
• The separation begins in the feedback loop between driver and engineers. A teammate who cannot diagnose and communicate the car's evolving issues will fall behind as Verstappen pushes the development forward.
• Villeneuve cited Sergio Perez's tenure as proof, noting they often started seasons closely matched. The gap widened because "Perez didn't start going slower. Max started going faster and faster and faster."
• The key is comprehension: understanding whether understeer comes from a front end that is too soft or too stiff, and navigating the complex trade-off between a stiff car for aerodynamic grip and a compliant one for mechanical grip.

The big picture:

Villeneuve describes the pinnacle of driving as reaching a zone "where the car becomes an extra part of your body that you don't have to think about it anymore." He contends very few drivers can achieve this symbiosis. Verstappen's dominance, therefore, is portrayed not as an engineered advantage but as the result of a driver operating at a different cognitive and technical level, pulling the entire car's performance ceiling upward with him through relentless refinement. This creates a snowball effect that leaves even highly capable teammates like Perez appearing lost.