- Max Verstappen is on the brink of becoming the first non-Mercedes driver to win the F1 title since 2013.
- Verstappen is tied with Lewis Hamilton ahead of the final race of a truly epic season of racing.
- Ahead of the year's penultimate race last week, Verstappen spoke to Insider to reflect on the season.
Of the 20 drivers currently competing in Formula One, there are few who can claim to be as highly rated as Max Verstappen.
The 24-year-old Dutchman made his F1 debut in 2015. A year later he became the youngest driver in the sport's history to win a race, taking victory in his debut outing for his current team, Red Bull.
He is of racing pedigree – his father Jos is a former Formula One driver and his mother, Sophie Kumpen, competed in karting – and it seems the family pastime has rubbed off on him.
Verstappen has often been described as a generational talent but up until this year, he did not have the car beneath him to show it.
In 2021, however, things have changed, with Red Bull finally providing a legitimate challenge after seven years of dominance by Mercedes.
As the team's lead driver, Verstappen has been at the forefront of that challenge, and in just four days time will face off against Lewis Hamilton in what is effectively a straight shootout for the title.
The drivers are level on points ahead of the season's final race in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, meaning that whoever finishes ahead will take the most prestigious individual prize in motorsport.
When Verstappen jets off to Abu Dhabi this week, he knows he is heading for a winner-takes-all showdown against one of the greatest of all time.
While others are showing signs of crumbling under the intense pressure, Verstappen seemed unfazed as he spoke to Insider prior to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last Sunday, a race in which chaos reigned, with Verstappen himself at the heart of proceedings.
In a wide-ranging interview, the Dutchman discussed his first year at the very top of F1, why he's no longer going to be on Netflix, and his desire to be remembered as nothing more than a "pure racer."
2021 is the year that Verstappen finally became one of the sport's true elite
"Enjoyable." That was Verstappen's single word answer when asked by Insider to sum his feelings about the 2021 season.
It is not a surprising answer.
By pretty much every measure Verstappen has had the best season of his career. He has won nine races, taken nine pole positions, and finished on the podium 17 times in 21 races. Before this season he had won 10 races in six seasons, and taken just three poles.
While he has been involved in several high-profile crashes with Hamilton — most notably at Silverstone and Italy — the season can be deemed a success regardless of whether he seals the title on Sunday.
"Of course, some races didn't go our way but overall we've had a lot of success and great performance," he told Insider.
The greatest success, however, would be beating Hamilton to win the title, something that has only been done once since 2013.
It's a stressful task, and in Jeddah last weekend Verstappen's stress showed on the track. Off it, however, he rarely likes to talk about the controversies which often define F1 races.
"I always think about the next race ahead and try to do the best I can there. I think that's the most important part and that's what can you control.
"[Disappointments have] happened to me so many times in my life. It's only in Formula One where everything starts to be dramatic. It's just another thing that happens."
Verstappen and the subtle art of not giving a fuck
His single-minded focus on racing has drawn praise from his boss, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
"Lewis [Hamilton] continually drops his subtle little digs or provocations. But I think the great thing about Max is he doesn't give a fuck," Horner told the Telegraph last week.
Asked about Horner's comment by Insider, Verstappen replied: "That's who I am."
"It's just how I am and how I want to be as well. I don't like to share a lot, I'm not a big fan of social media so I prefer not to be on it.
"I've always grown up like that. I'm pretty relaxed and just focus on myself.
"It doesn't matter what other people say at the end of the day because I know the people around me are very important and those are the ones you have to spend time with and listen to and work together with.
"All the other stuff, I don't really think about too much."
Perhaps this attitude to life is why he is choosing not to take part in Netflix's hit F1 docuseries "Drive to Survive."
"It's not who I want to be. A lot of the stuff is fake to make it more interesting and more dramatic," he when asked about that decision, which was announced in October.
"Of course when you're producing something fictional and it's come up in someone's fantasy, that's fine.
"When you are documenting a real life with real stuff happening, you shouldn't be doing that.
"Everyone has their own opinion about it, I'm not like that, and I think more just a pure racer who doesn't want fake stuff around."
The 24-year-old has become one of the biggest stars in the sport
As Verstappen's ability and standing in the sport has risen, Formula One's popularity has grown in tandem.
The sport has become significantly more media savvy under the ownership of Liberty Media, with "Drive to Survive" in particular boosting F1 to a fresh audience.
As its popularity grows, Formula One drivers have become bigger celebrities than ever before. While previously only Hamilton and a handful of drivers were international stars, now even midfield drivers get mobbed wherever they go.
"You know certain places are a little more difficult. For me that's Holland [his home country] which is normal. It's difficult to just walk around in the street without having people ask me for stuff but at the end of the day, it's part of your life and you just have to deal with it.
"It's nothing dramatic but sometimes you would like to just be with your family, doing your thing and not getting disturbed but in some places that just doesn't happen anymore."
The ability to do your own thing is important to Verstappen who does not buy into the glitzy life of a racing driver. Instead, he prefers to spend his time at home.
"I try to spend as much time as possible with family and friends. Of course lately, with COVID, it's been a bit more difficult but I think that's always been very important between races and at the beginning and end of the season to spend time with your family and friends."
For Verstappen, the pandemic provided a rare opportunity for someone in a sport that travels to more than a dozen countries each year: the chance to stay at home for a while.
"Personally, [the pandemic] wasn't too bad. You have FaceTime and all this kind of stuff so you can stay in touch. Of course it's nice to be in person.
"At the other end, I was actually very happy to be at home because of the travelling you normally do and you are just away a lot so it wasn't too hard.
"You have to deal with life at that moment which was a bit more restricted but it's the same for everyone so you just have to get on with it."
Verstappen said his F1 driver dad prepared him for the sport
While in Formula One, Verstappen has had six different teammates — Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, and Daniel Ricciardo.
He has learned something from every one of them, he told Insider.
"It's always interesting to see how other people are working, and you are able to pick stuff up.
"Luckily I have a very good mentor in my dad so I think I was already very well prepared and there were not many things that I needed to learn but I think you can always look around and find something."
The preparation and learning from others has all built to this one moment as finds himself one race away from a glory achieved by so few who compete in the sport.
While the team is important, when Verstappen steps into his car on Sunday there will only be one thing on his mind: beating Lewis Hamilton.
It's a tall order against arguably the greatest driver in the history of F1, but in a straight one-on-one battle, Verstappen could just do it.
Verstappen spoke to Insider as part of a promotional campaign for payments firm CashApp, one of Red Bull's sponsors. The Dutch driver has appeared in a series of commercials for the company, discussing financial education.