Chris Harris: Max Verstappen has outgrown his "Drive to Survive" villain caricature

On his podcast, Chris Harris says the UK is warming to four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen, praising his recent Nürburgring GT3 win

Former Top Gear host and popular automotive journalist Chris Harris discussed the rise in popularity of four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen in the UK.

"How did this podcast become the Max Verstappen Appreciation Society? I don't know how it happened, but I do believe we're part of a groundswell of appreciation for Max in the UK that wasn't there maybe even six months ago, because you just got to recognise when someone's doing it the right way and they're just cool as hell," Harris explained on the Chris Harris on Cars podcast.

"That's the great thing for me is that there's lots of F1 drivers out there trying to be cool, but one of them isn't trying to be cool. And because he's not trying, he's just cool as f***. He's the coolest."

This comes after Verstappen's GT3 victory at the Nordschleife in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie alongside his team-mate, British driver Chris Lulham.

"So, I think over the last few weeks, we've seen a demonstration of maybe the person that might be the best Formula 1 driver currently on the grid," Harris explained.

Film producer Manish Pandey, who joined Harris on the podcast, added:

"I think the thing I love about Max is this, it's what he does, but at the same time, he has an ability to be one step ahead. You know, the fatal flaw of so many sportsmen is that they're in what they do and then they kind of come to the end of what they do and haven't really planned what they're going to do.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alessio Morgese

"And it doesn't really matter how much money you have. It doesn't really matter what your assets are. I mean, you suddenly go from being number one in what is supposed to be the pinnacle of your sport and then you become maybe number one in a different sport or number two in a different sport, number nine in a different sport.

"And what we see with Max as a man, he really is ploughing his own furrow, isn't he? He's working out his future and keeping that future racing."

Harris previously argued that "most people in the UK" have got the Dutchman "wrong". After seven seasons of Netflix's Drive to Survive, the reigning champion has been labeled the villain of the paddock. But the motoring journalist is adamant that this isn't him in reality.

"The thing you need to know about Max Verstappen is that most people in the UK have got him wrong, and that's why I suppose I'm not proud of the film, but I think we've not done a job in repositioning how people think about him," he said after driving the new Ford Mustang GTD with the four-time F1 champion.

"That would be too cynical. What we've done is we've let you see who he is. And frankly, he's one of us. He's a very, very uncomplicated man who happens to have been born with a set of skills to drive a racing car in a manner that none of us can really understand."