Max Verstappen has finished on the podium in no fewer than six of the last eight Formula 1 weekends, but one thing is still missing: a victory.
Asked whether Red Bull’s form is finally starting to look respectable again after a very difficult start to the 2026 season, the Dutchman immediately makes his ambition clear: “It’s true that we are scoring quite a few podiums now, but I want to win.”
Should that victory not come, it would be the first time since 2015 that Verstappen and Red Bull have gone an entire season without winning a race. That scenario also threatened for Verstappen in 2017, but then came Malaysia, the place where the Dutchman claimed his second of 71 victories in his F1 career.
Verstappen is still the most recent grand prix winner at the Sepang International Circuit, although he does not remember that much about the place anymore.
“I mean, to be honest, I walked into the paddock this morning and I had no idea where I had to go! So yeah, it’s been a long time,” the four-time world champion smiled.
“I always enjoyed racing here because I really liked the track layout. It was not very straightforward because there was always high degradation and just very hot in general, so quite uncomfortable to drive in a way, physically.
“There are great memories, but I had to get used to this paddock again. It’s been a bit too long!”
In 2026, the cars are slightly less physically demanding due to all the focus on energy management, but even so, the race near Kuala Lumpur presents its challenges. The grand prix in nearby Singapore has always been strenuous, but in Malaysia the race takes place during the day.
Max Verstappen battling Lewis Hamilton in the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix
Photo by: Lars Baron / Getty Images
It raises the question of whether the drivers have done any special preparation for Sepang’s one-off return, but Verstappen brushed that off in typical fashion.
“I think I had four or five months of very intense preparation. Yeah, deep mental preparation of not giving an F…!,” Verstappen laughed.
“So, yeah, just rock up. It’s hot, but it’s also hot in Monaco and it gets very humid there as well and if you really want it hot, you go into the sauna or a steam room. I do that sometimes. You just need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, but that’s the case for everyone. It’s hot, sweaty and you need a few more underwears, I guess! But just go with the flow.”
Aside from the weather, the very rough asphalt in Malaysia also presents challenges. It not only causes significant tyre degradation, but also raises questions in terms of energy management. Both recharge and deployment are closely linked to the level of grip a circuit provides, as Verstappen also knows.
“Around here the track roughness is very high, so you will see probably quite a lot of degradation from the tyres and that also has a lot of influence on the deployment. So, yeah, a few unknowns from our side as well with these cars. We have to just wait and see what will happen.”
All those question marks could theoretically offer Verstappen an opportunity, although with Mercedes bringing an upgrade to Malaysia, he still believes Baku was theoretically Red Bull’s best chance of winning a race in 2026.
“Yeah, probably. I mean, normally if you bring an upgrade, you should go faster,” he said. “So, with them already being at the pace that they are, it will probably be very tricky. But, yeah, every single weekend we’ll try and do our best, and we’ll see where that leads us this weekend.”
Red Bulls wants to build on the momentum of the team’s double podium finish in Baku
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
The upgrade package introduced in Baku helps, although it is still important for Red Bull to validate its effect at a completely different circuit from the street track on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
“I think the parts that we got on the car in Baku, they worked well. But we also know that Baku has always been quite a good track to us,” Verstappen said. “It’s quite unique with the 90-degree corners. You don’t really have a lot of high-speed corners there, so we have to wait a little bit now in the coming races to see how our car is going to perform.”
Aside from a potential victory, this is also important for next season, as Red Bull wants to be fighting for the biggest prize of all again. Verstappen, however, continues to stress that bigger changes are still required for that, changes that can no longer be made to this year’s car.
“It’s probably quite good for us to see all these different kinds of tracks because, for next year, we’ll probably learn a lot over these coming races of what we need and what we want to do with the car,” he pointed out.
“We’re anyway not fighting for the championship, so for us it’s a big learning curve. But, of course, the last few weekends have already been a lot better than the start of the season.”
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