Red Bull racer and F1 dynamo Max Verstappen slams his rivals' "gala" appearance at the F1 movie premiere and delivers a brutal "Formula E on steroids" verdict after 2026 Bahrain testing.
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Max Verstappen isn’t shy about where he stands. While the rest of the Formula 1 grid, including guys like Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda dressed up in sharp suits and struck poses on top of the Empire State Building for the big premiere of the new F1 movie, APEX, Verstappen stayed put in Monaco. He didn’t bother with the Hollywood fanfare.
In a clip from his documentary, Max Verstappen – New Ground, he lets loose, calling out his rivals for chasing the spotlight instead of sticking with the real business of racing. To Verstappen, all the red carpet stuff just gets in the way.
The Red-Bull racing driver flat-out mocks the whole “gala thing” and wonders out loud why everyone’s suddenly “acting important” when, in his mind, the only thing that matters is getting ready for the 2026 season and making the car faster.
We'll push every step of the way 💙#F1 || #F1Testing 🇧🇭 pic.twitter.com/vs106f39uw
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 20, 2026
There’s a moment in Verstappen’s Viaplay documentary where he’s sitting with a teammate, watching footage from the New York premiere. Instead of taking it seriously, they just start poking fun at what everyone wore. His colleague laughs about how every driver seems to be drowning in a suit that’s too big (Yuki Tsunoda gets singled out for his especially baggy look).
Colleague: "Mate, what's with this gala thing?"
Verstappen: Which gala thing? Oh, the F1 Movie"
Colleague: "Everybody's got a suit that's way too big for them."
Verstappen cracks up too, clearly not getting the whole “gala culture” thing. He brushes off the whole event, basically saying it’s pointless. It’s "classic Verstappen" as the Belgian really doesn’t care about the glitzy stuff that comes with Formula 1. For him, it’s all about what happens on the track, not on some red carpet.
While his rivals chased the spotlight at film premieres, Verstappen stayed focused, putting in laps in the Red Bull-Ford RB22 during the 2026 Bahrain pre-season test. He didn’t hold back on his thoughts about the sport’s new technical direction.
Even though he wrapped up the final day with a strong 1m 33.109s, he still called the new, energy-management-heavy cars “not very Formula 1-like.” He even went as far as comparing the whole thing to “Formula E on steroids.”
| Best Lap Time | 1m 33.109s |
| Overall Standing | 5th Fastest (Session Leader: Charles Leclerc - 1m 31.992s) |
| Total Laps (Week 2) | 204 Laps |
| Team Total Mileage | 1,780 km (329 Laps) |
| Engine Supplier | Red Bull Ford Powertrains |
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