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Jolyon Palmer says Max Verstappen’s ‘relentless pursuit of perfection’ has occasionally seen him go beyond what’s acceptable in Formula 1.
Verstappen’s driving style has been a source of controversy since his early days in F1. In 2016, his first year with Red Bull, his aggressive defending prompted an FIA clampdown on late manoeuvres.
And during his intense and sometimes bitter title battle with Lewis Hamilton in 2021, many drivers felt Verstappen broke the rules of wheel-to-wheel racing. The Dutchman is a driver who operates on the extremities of the regulations.
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On the F1 Nation podcast, Palmer assembled his perfect driver by combining the attributes of different racers. Even if he feels Verstappen has gone ‘too far’ at times, he admires his mentality.
Palmer compared Verstappen to Michael Schumacher, who twice collided with title rivals in season finales (Damon Hill in 1994 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997). The Villeneuve incident saw him thrown out of the championship.
Verstappen raced cleanly at the 2021 and 2025 title deciders, but Palmer says he shares Schumacher’s penchant for getting himself into unnecessary ‘trouble’.
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He said: “In terms of your relentless pursuit of perfection in the car, ‘don’t settle for second, don’t settle for anything less than the maximum you can possibly get’, I was looking at Max and someone like Michael Schumacher.
“What they’ve both got in common is a level of controversy where they’ve pushed the rules too far because they’ve been so desperate for executing the absolute maximum. Rather than accepting on any given day that it’s not on, that’s not the move, they’ll try something that will then get them into trouble.”
“Max’s ’21, there was a lot of big moments where he was getting penalty after penalty.”
Max Verstappen tops the all-time penalty points leaderboard
Last year, Verstappen briefly flirted with a race ban as he reached 11 penalty points, putting him one short of a race ban. He survived that threat and, if he makes it to June without further sanctions, his record will be clean.
Still, Verstappen has racked up more penalty points than any other driver since the system was introduced in 2014, a year before he made his debut. Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll are the other active drivers in the top six.
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When his racing tactics came under fire in 2024 after multiple incidents with Lando Norris, Verstappen said: “I’m a three-time world champion. I think I know what I’m doing.”
Winning a fourth title shortly afterwards will only have strengthened Verstappen’s convictions, though it could be argued that he cost himself the 2025 crown by colliding with George Russell at the Spanish GP.
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