“You wouldn’t have seen me!” Max Verstappen takes a cheeky dig at McLaren after Japanese GP

Red Bull’s reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen has shared his thoughts on McLaren’s superior pace after beating them at Suzuka.

“You wouldn’t have seen me!” Max Verstappen takes a cheeky dig at McLaren after Japanese GP

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull content pool)

Coming into the 2025 season, almost everyone in the F1 community was expecting McLaren to be the team to beat this year and they matched the expectations as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri won the first two races in a dominant car. But Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen was determined to humble the British team, and with perfect execution he did exactly that.

Despite having a slower car than McLaren, Max Verstappen was able to find the extra pace to secure the pole and he meticulously dominated the race to secure the win at Suzuka last Sunday. Talking about his weekend after the race, he admitted that he didn’t have much hope coming in and highlighted the fact that McLaren has the fastest car.

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When I came here, I didn’t expect to win here at all – and after Friday, not at all. Starting on pole was the most important thing this weekend. McLaren, I think was faster, but they couldn’t get into the DRS to make a move.

Max Verstappen said via Motorsports.com.

When asked whether the win was entirely down to the driver at the track on Sunday, Verstappen pointed out that though he is happy with how he performed, he doesn’t think about it that way. He then took a cheeky dig at McLaren, remining them he would have win with massive margin if he was driving the Papaya car.

I’m very happy with what I’m doing, I don’t even want to think about it if I’d been in that other car [McLaren]. Then you wouldn’t have seen me.

Max Verstappen added.

Red Bull ends speculations about Max Verstappen’s teammate for reminder of 2025

The Japanese GP weekend witnessed Verstappen welcoming his new teammate of the season. Following bad performance in the first two races of the season, Liam Lawson was demoted to the Red Bull’s sister team VCARB.

Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen (via Racingnews365), Helmut Marko (via IMAGO)
Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen (via Racingnews365), Helmut Marko (via IMAGO)

Yuki Tsunoda was given the promotion, the opposite way, and made his senior team debut at his home track. But the race didn’t go as planned for the youngster as he qualified behind all RB cars at p15, even behind Lawson and failed to get into points while Verstappen dominated.

This started question regarding if Red Bull will sack Tsunoda as well for a new driver, if he fails to perform on a top level for the reminder of the season. Red Bull has now come out ending this speculation, as Helmut Marko confirms there won’t be a change till the ned of the year.

The first race went fairly smoothly. He was always two-to-three tenths behind Max in practice and qualifying until he was eliminated. That’s quite an achievement when you don’t get more time. uki will finish the season at Red Bull.

Helmut Marko said.

The senior team figure also confirmed that Tsunoda is happy with the Verstappen focused Red Bull car and is capable of securing points for them. It’s good news for everyone involved in the team and it will be interesting to see how Tsunoda is going to help Verstappen thrive in 2025.