Verstappen now leads his own career, says manager

Max Verstappen is now "fully in the lead" of his own operation, with an increasingly direct hand in the commercial and creative direction of his career, according to his manager Raymond Vermeulen.

Speaking to Formule 1 Magazine, Vermeulen said the long-running partnership between Verstappen, his father Jos Verstappen and himself has evolved as the Red Bull driver has matured. "Especially because Max has grown up and has more of his own voice," Vermeulen said. "In fact, he is now fully in the lead and is increasingly bringing his own DNA to develop further what we once started with."

That marks a clear shift inside a structure that Vermeulen said has been held together for years by personal trust as much as professional alignment. He said "friendship and trust have always been the baseline" in the important decisions they have made, adding that "mutual trust is crucial" and that without it, "I would never have had the energy."

Vermeulen said he still builds "the commercial structures," but Verstappen is becoming "more and more intensively involved" in that process. He added that "the creative ideas usually come from him," underlining how much the four-time world champion now shapes the direction of his own brand and career rather than simply being managed around it.

Despite that growing control, Vermeulen said success has not changed Verstappen personally. He described him as "still the Max as I know him from before" and "the same sweet little guy who went to Düsseldorf with his parents back in 2014" to sign his first Formula 1 contract.

Vermeulen also made clear that his own job goes well beyond a standard management brief. He said he is "busy with everything seven days a week," dealing with "private matters and business things" as well as tasks that would not normally fall within his role, because the aim is to make sure Verstappen "feels comfortable and only has to be busy with racing." He said he and Jos Verstappen try to organize things that way.

That support structure also extends to contract strategy. Vermeulen said his experience from Jos Verstappen's time in Formula 1, working around figures such as Eddie Jordan and Tom Walkinshaw, taught him the importance of staying disciplined in negotiations. "You don't want clauses and passages in contracts that could leave you stuck later on," he said.

Within that approach, Red Bull remains the central pillar. Vermeulen said "the contract with Red Bull is the leading contract," with the rest of Verstappen's agreements managed around it, a setup that reflects both the team's priority and Verstappen's tighter control over the wider direction of his career.