Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. So Max, let's start by talking a little bit about this season so far. What's your state of mind going into Italy about your racing?
Very relaxed, to be honest. I mean, yeah, we we had I think, pretty pretty pretty decent starts. Yeah, we've been you know, I think, just constantly improving a bit from from you know, last year. But of course also the competition, you know, they have been also improving, and I think everyone is getting a bit closer here and there. But that's good. I mean everyone is of course trying to push as hot as they can, and that's the same for us.
You know.
It's interesting to think about, you know, moving to Italy and then on too Monico. After Miami, we sort of see the fullness and I'm speaking to you from Doha, you know, the fullness of this global circuit. Do you think the mix is where it needs to be geographically or or do you think the calendar needs to be tweaked.
I think what we're doing in the US at the moment, I think is great. You know, having the three races there in different places I think works really well. I think, yeah, from my side, the only thing I think what can improve a bit on the calendar is just the general like traveling. We're still traveling a little bit too much
left and right. I think it would be it would make a bit more sense, you know, to to maybe start like we did in in Asia, maybe have a few back to backs and then do YEurope and from yere you move on to the US or whatever. You know. So there are few, I think, still a few things that we can do better. Also when you look at from sustainability. But at the same time, of course I understand that you know, having two three races in the same country or in the same continent maybe sells less tickets.
But then at the end of the day, I mean, what are you trying to sell? Is it tickets or actually sell the sustainability story. You know, that's what we have to look at.
Well.
And obviously the global audience as well, that's that's tuning in to, you know, watch from from home or bars or wherever. So so to that point in terms of building the fan base, you know, obviously the US, as you mentioned, it's getting much more popular.
Drive to Survive We've heard that story a lot.
What else does f one need to do what individual teams need to do to ensure that the sport keeps growing globally.
Keeping it real I think, yeah, I mean it's it's a difficult one, you know, because it depends how you want to attract fans like you can attract it of course a very different ways, right, you know, from the
entertainment side or actually the performance side of things. And of course you know the sport has been growing a lot lately, probably from you know, more the entertainment side, but you know, you also need to question like what you actually want because I think it's also very important to keep you know, the real die hard fans, you know, really engaged. But you know, these kind of things at the end of the day, like you know, I'm the
racing driver. I'm very focused on my performance and you know that's already taking a lot of my time, you know, trying to just be on top of my game, you know, being you know, in touch with with my team what we can try and improve. And you know, to be honest, what that those kinds of things are not really going through my mind a lot. You know, how how should I grow the sport? I mean that's not up to me. I'm not, you know, also the shareholder of the sport.
You know, I'm just here to try and win, win the races.
That's a fair point.
And obviously the commercial success does, as you rightly point out, rely very much on success on the track. No one has no one would question your success on the track. It's worth pointing out that that obviously, you know, there's gonna be a big change with with Adrian Newey leaving. What's your confidence level I should say about that side of the equation moving forward, ensuring that you can stay competitive on the track.
Yeah, I mean it's of course, you know, it's been you know, quite you know, a change, I guess, but also a shame that you know, Adrian will be leaving, because I think it will be always nice for him, you know, to be part of what we are doing.
I mean, he's been incredibly important for us, especially from the start of Red Bull Racing, I would say, And yeah, I mean at one point, you know, you have a lot of good people in the team, a really strong technical department that I trust in as well, you know, for the future, so naturally the confidence is very high and very excited for for the coming years as well. But yeah, would it have been nice for Adrian to
be around as well and see that for sure. But at the end of the day, you know, when people want to maybe seek new challenges or whatever, you can't stop that.
And so when you think about you know, obviously you take care of business on the track, that's clear. How much do you think about your business the business of Max off the track? You know you have some key endorsements with EA, with Heineken. How do you choose those partners and what is that process like?
Luckily, you know, I you know, I have a really strong group of people you know around me that I think know me pretty well, you know, so I think at the end of the day, the sponsorships and endorsement deals, you know, they need to fit me and you know, we need to be able to you know, work very well together, which I think with the with the deals that we have in place at the moment, they work
really well for me. And then also I'm probably a bit more natural in the way that you know, I can express myself, so that definite me, Yeah, it works very well because you also, you know, we do a lot of racing, We do a lot of similar to work back at the factory, we have a lot of marketing days and then plus your private deals as well.
You know, there are a lot of days that are gone in a year because it's also important, of course to to rest up and actually you spend time with family and friends because you know, I fun, of course is great, but that's not what I'm going to be doing the rest of my life. So it's important to you know, find your free time as well and enjoy life as well a little bit.
And so that that begs the question that a bit, you know, as you think about and I don't imagine it will be soon, but you know, life after the sport, how do you build your your business portfolio? How do you think about you know, the business of max moving forward? What do you see yourself doing down the line?
I probably, you know myself, I will always race a bit, but you know, a bit less than form one. It's very intense, you know, I have a lot of plans, you know, outside of that. You know, I do a lot of the simulated stuff like virtual racing, and I want to try and find a way of you know, drivers who don't have the money to start in go cutting or other kind of categories, you know, to make
it into real racing. I want to try and create an opportunity for them through the virtual world, the same racing world, you know, to also have a shot at it in real life. So this is something that I'm planning. I don't want to rush it. I want to do it well. But that's something that I definitely, you know, I'm very interested in. And everything else outside of that, I think, you know, it just depends a bit more, you know, how much free time you have as well.
Of course, there's plenty going on in the background. But yeah, a lot of people around me, you know, people that I trust, you know, they take care of that.
Well.
Speak of plenty going on in the background there. Obviously, it's been a lot of off track noise, you know, on the team drivers moving around. How do you stay focused amid all that and how does that affect your decision making?
I think I'm quite a relaxed person, you know, So when I go home, I honestly don't really think about Formula one too much. Other kind of things around, you know, other teams or whatever, that doesn't interest me at all, you know, what is happening there. I'm just very focused on what I have to do within the team and outside of that, you know, I really want to try and switch off as much as I can. So yeah,
I'm just I'm pretty relaxed. Of course, a lot of things, you know, from the start of the season happened, but and the other you know, on the other hand, I'm just here for the results, you know. I try to focus for you know, on the performance side of things, and then just try to do the best I can.
You know, it was interesting.
I was in Miami and you know, witnessed that very I dare say, sweet moment between you and Lando, you know, when he when he won that race.
What does that mean for the sport?
Obviously you've been dominating and yet I would imagine and you understand that, you know, good competition is ultimately what is going to drive fans.
So how do you square that in your mind?
Well, they first of all, you know, they beat us very and squares so then yeah, I'm good friends with Lando, you know, so I was very happy for him to win his first race. Is always I think a very special moment when you win your first race, you know. So yeah, just genuinely happy. Of course the fans like
to see it as well. From my side, of course, you know, personally I wasn't happy with with how the weekend went, but we still came out of there with the most points of everyone, which even when a weekend didn't go away, you know, you can still I guess in a way be satisfied with that. But as a team, you know, we always try to do better, and that's why we're here in Italy now to try and do better than what we did in Miami.
You know, I want to go back very quickly, but before we wrapped it to something you said at the beginning about you know, the calendar and you know some of the tweaks that maybe need to be made. Do you feel like, you know, both with your team and the other teams and Formula one FIA, do you feel like they listen to you as the top driver and other drivers in terms of your wants and needs, in terms of really your part in growing the sport.
I think they are always very open to have a chat or listen, you know, so that has never been a problem. Of course they might sometimes think the same, but then sometimes it's just you know, it's not possible to change it on a short term because of you know, deals that have been made about certain dates as well in the calendar, you know, but I think it is always very open for a chat, so for me from
that side, it's never been been a problem. And you know, I'm also always very happy to talk about stuff that can be improved in the sport that I love of course,