Jos on Max's dominant Sepang win: 'This one didn't come out of nowhere'

Published on 04 October 2026 by Misha van der Kroon

A dominant Max Verstappen showed the world during the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang that he and Oracle Red Bull Racing still need to be taken seriously. His father Jos watched it all unfold from the pit lane.

“This one didn’t come out of nowhere,” a visibly relieved and delighted Jos tells Viaplay. “Especially with that final Safety Car, the whole field came back together. We had a ten or eleven-second lead and Max was managing the gap, so it was looking good. But suddenly all of that was wiped out. Somehow, though, the pace is back. You can see it in the steering inputs as well. It looks positive again.”

The decision to start on the intermediate tyres proved crucial. Jos explains: “They stopped showing the circuit on television, so you couldn’t see where it had dried up. The only thing you could see was the start-finish straight, and you could see that it was still damp there. On the formation lap, we saw that it was still very wet, so you knew we had made the right choice.”

Jos also reflects on Red Bull’s first victory as a power unit manufacturer and the vision Dietrich Mateschitz had for the team. “Yes, and the hard work at the factory. When you consider that this is the first Red Bull power unit taking on Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi and Honda, and to be in this position, you can only take your hat off to them. Hard work is rewarded.”

What does Jos expect from the remaining races this year? “It looks good. Of course, we’re also dependent on developments at the other teams, but I think we can definitely continue fighting for podiums and sometimes victories for the rest of the year. I wouldn’t have expected that a few months ago. That just makes it even better.”