seeing gifsets of david alonso pulling off flawless kpop idol aegyo directly to the camera when then show him in his box during a practice session and then it cuts to celestino vietti looking wet and grumpy and bewildered and like he just woke up. sublime
We discussed in Part 1 some of the adversity that Max has faced that might incline people to be protective of him. But that surely can't be the only thing. Other drivers have faced a great deal of adversity without engendering the same apparent feelings in people. I think in the end what actually does it is not the negatives he's encountered but the positives that make him who he is.
Personality
Innate Sweetness/Kindness/Gentleness
As is true of all of us, Max's personality is a mix of things, positive and negative. This isn't about saying he is just sugar and spice and everything nice. He is a perfectionist, he is uncompromising, his is stubborn, and he is aggressive. Though actually maybe he is sugar and spice - the spice is the perfectionism, tenacity, the obstinacy, and the aggression. The part that I think draws protective people to him and brings out the protective urges in others is the sugar. His sweetness. I think if you were to describe Max as sweet to one of his haters they'd think you were crazy as how can sweet and aggressive exist together they would say. They've watched the races, they've watched DTS. Max is angry, violent, aggressive. He can't be sweet they would say. The problem is that the people who know him and those who get to know him always seem to use these sorts of words - sweet, gentle,
Victoria Verstappen - “Max is a very sweet person. I'm also quite sweet, but he can tolerate a lot more than I can. He got that from my mother. I'm more like my father, a bit more ‘spicy’. It takes a really long time for Max to get mad at people and be done with them. I'm done with people faster than he is."
Jos Verstappen - “Max has a lot in common with Michael: uncompromising on the track, but sweet, sensitive and caring as a private person.”
Liam Lawson - “He’s also so nice like as a person. He’s such a nice guy. Like through everything that happened last year with Red Bull, he was so good to me. He was super nice and you know, he was just helpful, really helpful."
Christian Horner - “Max, as a person, is just a really nice 26-year-old young man, who is passionate about his racing, and uncomfortable with the level of fame or notoriety that he has now. He just wants to do his job and race a car hard, he is very, very straightforward, and very honest. He loves spending time on his PlayStation if he’s not in a race car. So, outside of the car, he is quite a gentle character."
Gianpiero Lambiase - "Here at the track, Max, he’s portrayed as the villain of the paddock, but away from the track, he is the complete opposite. He’s the most sincere, gentle giant and a very likeable character. I consider him a top friend."
Pia Ramos - “The one who's the best with the kids is Max Verstappen. He looks them in the eye, he's super attentive to everything they ask, he never gives them a dirty look. You really don't know what it's like to see the face of a little boy who's burned, and Max is looking at him with such kindness"
I have not studied psychology, but from rudimentary research there are a slew of reasons why people desire to protect 'gentle' people. There are the mirror neurons in our brain that allow us to see a particular characteristic we will mirror it back. Therefore someone behaving gently and kindly receive that kindness back. It is also posited that gentle people have a natural ability to absorb stress from others, creating a calm and caring atmosphere. Lastly there are some biological urges to protect the most gentle members of society because they are seen as necessary for society and therefore needing of protection. Providing that protection may in fact release powerful bonding hormones like oxytocin.
Authenticity
One of Max Verstappen's most praised qualities is that he is straightforward, down to earth, honest, real etc. This all boils down to a strong core of authenticity. All of us wear a variety of masks in our daily life. It's necessary for ones sanity to be honest. And I won't say that Max doesn't have masks. Clearly he does or more precisely I would say that he does a fair amount of code switching both linguistic and sociocultural. I make the distinction because at no point does he wear a mask that changes his fundamental truths. For example for the press he might describe the 2026 regulations in terms that are more technical or in relation to his career in general. If he's on a stream with team Redline he might describe them using darker or crude humor. Same honestly, same dislike for the regulations, different language and style. There isn't one answer about the regs for the press and a different one for his friends. There isn't one for a winning weekend and another for a losing weekend. He just might be a bit more frustrated when he has two things to be frustrated about. In fact he usually errs on the side of truthfulness/authenticity rather than caring about the situation. "The car was fucked." The car was fucked and he clearly didn't see a reason to coach the thought in polite words.
Karen Chandhok - “Max just says exactly what he thinks. There is no filter, no PR version. You might not always agree with him, but you know it is genuine. That honesty is rare. People sometimes confuse honesty with arrogance. But those are not the same thing.”
Peter Hardenacke - "I really appreciate that about Max, he is so clear and keeps eye contact all the time. I think that's what makes him so unique. If you talk about authenticity, he is one of the most authentic people in the paddock."
Being someone who is known for speaking their mind and doing so with honesty engenders trust in others. And once people trust Max they are also distrustful of people who criticize him for the very thing that made them trust Max in the first place. I think one only has to look at recent comments by Juan Pablo Montoya and more importantly ho people reacted to them. You had Jolyon Palmer quickly and decisively coming to Max's defense against him on a technical criticism, but more importantly for our discussion here, you had Dani Juncadella coming to his defense against him on the issue of his honesty. As Chris Harris said, Max doesn't need to be 'parented' because he can take care of himself and yet people will time and time again defend him in a intensely protective way. Dani knows Max doesn't care what JPM thinks. That's not why he did it. He responded because it mattered to him. He protected Max because he wanted to. He is probably privy to Max's honesty in a very particular way being a teammate and having the man as his TP. He probably knows the depth of the authenticity/honesty and furthermore depends on it in the good times and the bad.
Soooooo there's most of what was on my mind when we were talking in that comment section @sage-daze and now I'm actually thinking of adding a third part which is more personal and just explains my own protective feelings. So unfortunately there will be a 3rd, hopefully shorter yap about how I feel just in my own little brain pan. Sorry for going off on so many tangents. Tangents that I'm not even sure came together. lol.
Marc: Alex has already been through… I love you asking me about Alex because, because it’s always the other way around.
Izaskun: it’s because we always ask him about you, now I will ask Marc every day about Alex.
Marc: Alex is in the process, I mean, during recovery, it’s like you are coming out of surgery, first week everything is dark, second week… And he’s already at the point where you have to keep him on a short leash. Eh he’s starting to feel better, he wants, well, to start doing things, to start preparing physically, but well, he has a great team of doctors, physios, that are setting the deadlines for him and logically, to come back as soon as possible, but with a guarantee.
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