Max Verstappen Takes A Sly Dig At McLaren? Red Bull Ace Fires Warning On ‘Unsustainable’ Super-Driver Pairings

Max Verstappen has delivered a thinly veiled warning to Formula 1’s grid: pairing two elite young drivers might look sexy, but it’s a slow-burning disaster.

Speaking on the Pelas Pistas Podcast, the four-time

world champion made it clear that if he were running an F1 team, he’d never stack his garage with two drivers at the same peak.

“It’s not ideal,” the Red Bull driver said about putting two top youngsters alongside each other in a team. ”I think [it shows] if you look at the best partnerships in the past [in terms] of how to win championships, Team and Driver.

“You can deal with it one year, quite intense, maybe two years, but it’s not sustainable for me personally. If you’re not fighting for championships, it’s less of a problem. There’s not really high stakes.

While praising Audi’s decision to pair rookie Gabriel Bortoleto with the vastly experienced Nico Hülkenberg, Verstappen contrasted that approach with teams betting on double-alpha line-ups — a strategy he believes creates pressure, politics and, ultimately, chaos.

“I’m more worried about the internal fight that you create, and people will leave,” Verstappen explained.

Then came the kicker.

“If it’s the driver, very important people up top… If it’s such a mess between the drivers, you create a two-sided garage. And at one point, it doesn’t matter how successful you are, it will break it up. It will create problems eventually.”

No team was named. None needed to be.

Verstappen even borrowed from football to make his point, applauding Real Madrid’s model of phasing youth in alongside proven winners, rather than unleashing multiple stars at once.

You know who does that really well in football is [Real] Madrid.

“I’m a Barcelona fan, but Madrid does a very good job at having a squad, a starting 11, current, amazing, but making sure that once the older guys are at their end, to immediately replace them with a good young talent that can fill the gap.

“So that’s what I think you need to try to achieve in a way in Formula 1 as well.”