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Dec.16 (GMM) Max Verstappen has admitted he was still playing psychological games during the 2025 title fight with McLaren – despite earlier insisting he no longer needed to.
Back in October, the quadruple world champion played down any suggestion of mental tactics against Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, contrasting the season with his bruising 2021 duel against Lewis Hamilton.
“Back then, that was kind of the game I played. Will I do that again? I don’t need to,” Verstappen said at the time.
“Back then, I’d never won a world title. Now I have a few, and they haven’t. At this stage, you’re naturally more nervous if you haven’t become world champion yet than if you already have those titles.”
However, speaking to Viaplay with the championship now decided, Verstappen conceded that the mind games never really stopped.
The interviewer pointed to Verstappen’s pointed claim that he would have wrapped up the title months earlier if he was driving a McLaren – admitting it was deliberate provocation.
“That’s in me automatically,” Verstappen grinned when asked about it. “I’m doing that a bit for fun too. Those are just things you say, because you know it’s being written down everywhere.
“I don’t care if I say it or not. I like it sometimes, because then you get a counter-reaction. That’s part of it too.”
