Rob Smedley explains the mindset that makes Max Verstappen the "ultimate competitor"

Rob Smedley has hailed Max Verstappen as “the ultimate competitor”, praising his relentless self-motivation and drive to keep pushing the gap to his rivals

Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley has described Max Verstappen as "the ultimate competitor".

Discussing which driver he would like to serve as race engineer for during an appearance on the High Performance podcast, Smedley chose the four-time champion because of his self-motivation and drive to "humiliate people" as the ultimate competitor.

"Because he's my type of driver," Smedley explained. "He's just a competitor.

"Like running my own business now and when you interview people, 'how much of a self-starter are you?' You know, what a ridiculous question. Who's going to answer and say, 'I'm not a self-starter. I can't do anything. You're going to have to tell me what to do like 24 hours a day.'

"Max is the epitome of somebody who brings his own motivation and drive every hour of every day, right? He is so motivated. He is a winning machine. He wants to win. He is so competitive, right? So, there's never any doubt about that, right?

"Of course, every driver wants to win, but how much can they bring it every hour of every day? How much can they be motivated to be the best? Not only to be the best, but to put a big gap between me and the next best. Because that's what he wants to do.

"He finds that motivation from somewhere, like the gap to the next best driver on the grid isn't big enough. I need it to be bigger and I need to outperform myself and I need to drag the team along. And that is a powerful drug when you have somebody on your side like that, who is so self-motivated.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

"You have to have all the competency, and all the ability and all of that. That's kind of a given, you're a Formula 1 driver. But having that extra edge of self-belief and being able to motivate yourself and being able to motivate those people around you, that to me is what a complete driver is."

After a tricky start to the 2025 season, Verstappen returned from the summer break with a late surge in performance, challenging both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the drivers' championship. He ultimately finished in second behind Norris.

"He still wants it 110%. He wants it more than anyone else. It's clear he wants it more than anybody else. As much as it'll probably be a pain for the other 19 to hear this, that's why he's so successful because he gets up every morning and he brings it.

"And he is motivated. He's the classic driver that you give him an inch, and he'll take a lot more from you. And what does that do to all his other competitors? That puts them even further back. Because he just keeps going and going and going. I'm sure most of them are looking at him thinking, 'Come on, Max. Just have a day off. Just one day. Please just have a weekend off so like we can all like do this.'

"But he doesn't because it's not enough to beat people. It's almost to the point where he wants to humiliate people. And I don't mean that in a negative way. I don't mean that in a nasty way, but that's what goes through his mind. He is the ultimate competitor."