Max Verstappen has revealed how a specific hack, via Google, means he can usually avoid a track walk before every Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The Dutchman has, by his own heady standards, had a difficult season in 2025, having taken only two victories in 14 Grands Prix.
But it has not been for the want of trying, as some scintillating performances, despite an inferior Red Bull car, have shown he is still at the top of his game.
Like all F1 drivers, Verstappen will naturally be required to possess a keen attention to detail, enabling him to have the best possible chance of success on-track.
And track walks are commonplace within all forms of motorsport, as it gives teams and drivers a feel for the surface, braking areas and other such intricacies.
But for Verstappen, he has found other ways of gaining knowledge of circuits, as he explained in a video for Ford – Red Bull’s new powertrain partner.
“So, if I would come to a new track, first thing what I would do is, of course, you look at onboard,” he told co-host Chris Harris. “Whatever you can find.”
“What I actually also like to do is look at Google Maps sometimes,” he revealed. “So you just have it in your head.”
When asked by Harris if he is therefore able to visualise a circuit in detail, Verstappen replied: “Yeah, so you can think about it already a bit.”
Verstappen: F1 track walks are ‘boring’
Verstappen explained how a merely slow out-lap once in the car compensates for the expended energy on exploring a circuit on foot.
“I never do it [the track walk] anymore,” he said. “Only if the track is very, like, completely new, I might do it.
“But I always say my out-lap is my track walk, because you drive a bit slower.
“I mean honestly, to walk for like five to seven kilometres, it’s just boring.
“I just prefer to do my out-lap a bit slower, look around and you’re like ‘Okay, yeah, that’s fine.’”
With F1 set to return from its summer hiatus next weekend, there’s little doubt that Verstappen will need to learn much, as the sport arrives in his Dutch homeland at Zandvoort for Round 15.
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