Wheatley: Max definitely knows how to make the car faster.

      In 2025 Jonathan Wheatley became the head of the Sauber team, but before that he worked for many years at Red Bull Racing, where he served as sporting director, and, of course, during that time got to know Max Verstappen well. And if he says the four-time world champion is an incredibly vibrant personality, there is not a shred of exaggeration in his words.

      "Max is not just a driver, he is an incredibly vibrant personality," Wheatley said in an interview with RacingNews365. "He may be the best driver I know, and I'm very impressed that he continues to develop and grow in terms of professional maturity. Max knows exactly what needs to be done to make the car faster. His meetings with engineers are built around that, and general conversation is heard there very rarely. When a driver of Max's calibre is present in the engineers' office, there is a special energy in the air."

      In Wheatley's view, Laurent Mekies, the new head of Red Bull Racing, must prove to Verstappen that the team will continue to move in the right direction in 2026, when radical reforms will take place in Formula 1.

      "What keeps a person at a team? What makes them remain loyal and move forward with it? A belief that you are on the right path," the British specialist reflected. "It's extremely rare in a driver's career for him to race every year for a team that is capable of fighting for the championship. That doesn't happen. But if you stay with a team, you must be sure that it is heading in the right direction. Max has his own ideas about what needs to be done, and all his decisions are based on that."