Max Verstappen And Chris Harris Drive ALL NEW Ford Mustang GTD! | Ford Performance
Look at the car we’re sitting in. Is that my private car? If you see a gap, you don’t go for it, you’re no longer a racing driver. Sometimes you can still use that argument into the stewards’ office as well. That’s his first lap. So what’s the style here? Jesus Christ. Are you good? It’s dead impressive. I’m cruising along in
a Ford RS200 from 1986. Many of you will know the
significance of the car. Some of you might not. If you don’t, Ford built
a handful of these things to enter the wild Group B rally category in the mid ’80s. But, just when they finished
it, they banned the category ’cause it was so dangerous and so fast. So, they live as a kind of memorial to crazy thinking and extreme motorsport. And that seems fitting for the chap that I’m gonna
talk to today, Max Verstappen. (crowd cheering) I think he’s the most
enigmatic, interesting Formula One driver of his generation. Four-time World Champion. Not much older than my oldest son. Look at what he’s achieved. He’s sort of redefined Formula One. And I have to say I’m a bit of an
old-fashioned motorsport fan. I like my drivers to be drivers. I’m not really interested
in the shoes they wear, or the clothes they wear, or
the politics they lean towards. I want them to drive. They go in the pen after the race, and they talk about deg,
and they talk about marbles, and they talk about front to rear balance and all the other stuff. But what about actual driving? How it makes them feel and whether they have a particular style of what they’re tryin’ to do with their relationship with the car. And I want to talk to
Max about all this stuff. I want to nerd him out. So, we’ll start in this, and, well, we might go
to a track afterwards and see what he says. Anyhow, the RS200, Max Verstappen, it doesn’t get any better than this. It does not get any better than this. Anyhow, we’re rolling in now. I think this is where we’re going. Four-time World Champion. Hello. Chris, how’s it going? Well, it couldn’t be
much better, could it? Looks good. You like? Yeah, looks nice. Nice to meet you, mate. Yeah, nice to meet you. Do you know all about these? Well, not really. Not really, so I think you have to explain me a little bit about it. Okay, so they made it
in 1985-86 for Group B. Okay, yes. Group B was the madness rally, and you must know about that. That I know, yeah. Yeah, right. So, but just when they finished
making it, they banned them. Right, so they couldn’t
do anything with it. Okay. So, they had to try and
finish the road cars, about 150 of ’em, which they sold, and they sold them as road cars. So, this is a road car, but like all great
racing cars for the road, it’s a bit compromised. But I just thought, if
I’m gonna get the chance to spend some time with
you and talk about driving, we had to do it in something that special. Yeah, I’ve never seen it before. That’s for sure. But one thing I wanted to do, right? Yeah. This is mechanically one of the most curious cars ever made. Okay. And this is gonna be quite
car-y and nerdy, all right? We can be nerds. Okay. Is I wanna show you that this has the most ridiculous
four-wheel drive system ever made for a car, and
I’ve written it down. Really? Okay, look, so, this has
a front transaxle, right? Mm hm, mm hm. So, the way it works is in-line four here. So, that’s a longitudinal
four-cylinder engine. It has a shaft that comes
straight out of the engine to the front, to a gearbox at the front, with a transfer case. Yeah. Which then fires another rod all the way down the back of the car to drive the rear wheels. Is that not madness? Yeah, it’s interesting. Is it?
Why would anyone do that? Is it weight distribution or? Exactly. So there you go. There we go. You see?
There we go. That’s why you’re a racing driver. Well, I’d love to drive you round in it. Jump in. All right then. You’re gonna get a sweaty back in here. Yeah, yeah, that’s, yeah. Sorry about that in advance. All good, all good. Whoa. This is an absolute rattle
box on the road, sorry. I’m happy that you’re driving. Yeah, I can’t believe that. Are you a good passenger? I am normally with
people, of course, that I. You trust. Again, if we drive like
this, it’s all good, right? Yeah. I start to get a little
bit more uncomfortable if we start, like, pushing it. For example, if we’re on the track, and I’m with my manager, I
will not sit next to him. You won’t?
No. But you trust him to make all the big decisions in your life. Yeah, but not in a race car. I’m not sitting next to him. You do love driving, do you? I do, yeah. But mainly for me more
in, like, racing cars. So, at the moment, you know, F1. Then, I do spend a bit
of time in a GT3 car. Stop there. Can we just discuss that? Yeah. You went to the Nurburgring.
Yeah. You called yourself Hans, Franz Hermann. Yeah, Franz. Well, how did you make that up, and how much were you
laughing when you did it? Yeah, so the team Emil Frey that we have the GT3 car with, they were like, well, mate, you
can drive under a fake name. Do you have any recommendations? So, I was like, you know what? Let’s make it really German. So, I was like, Franz Hermann. I was like, that sounds good. Because he could have been, like, a sports car racer in
the 70s, couldn’t he? Yeah, but then, again, you know, if you would choose like a
famous name, then people walk up. Yes. So, I was like, let’s not do that. Just make it really German. But you love driving enough, for you to spend your spare
time going to the Nordschleife. I think most people who love
driving will appreciate that. Yeah, for me, you know,
it’s a passion of mine. I enjoy driving, racing. Plus of course now,
having the racing team, giving one of my sim drivers a real opportunity in the real world. It’s all also for him to understand more of what’s going on out there and let him drive the most
difficult track on the planet. And from sim to reality was literally, I mean, tell me your lap times. They’re extraordinary.
Yeah. So, you start off in the virtual world, and then you drive it really, and first lap out, what was your time? Yeah, so first lap out was
a 7:56 on the VLN layout. Yeah. So, that was good. I mean, I think the few weeks before that, the pole was a 7:51. And of course we just run
it with a full tank, right, because you need to, I wanted
to do more laps in a row. So then, yeah, second lap, 7:54. Then I boxed. I let my sim driver do a run. Then we went back out with
me with a new set of tires, and we did a 7:48. So, this was good. I mean, the car was also
really nice to drive, but I felt comfortable
just because I did already like a thousands of laps on the simulator. When did you first realize
that you loved driving? That you like holding a
wheel, operating stuff? I mean, surely you’re a
bit like the rest of us. If there’s a lawn mower to be
driven, you wanna drive it. If there’s something with
a wheel or machinery, you wanna operate it. Yeah, I mean, if you ask my parents, of course, when I was three years old, I was already on like a quad bike. Yeah. Racing around in the garden. It doesn’t matter if it’s a quad bike, a bike, a car, a go-kart. You know, I think the excitement also was always like close to the ground and, you know, really feel the speed. The modern style of
driving is a bit different to what many people think is the case. A lot of people still think it’s about managing the exit of the corner. But actually, there’s a school of thought that it’s all entry to apex, isn’t it and how you manage the car on the way in? I think it also depends a lot
on what car that you’re in. Yep. You know, so a road car
is different to an F1 car. An F1 car is different to a GT3 car, and a GT3 car is, of
course, again different to a hyper car, whatever, you know. So, I think what is the
right way to describe it is you have to adapt to
the situation you’re in. So, you have to have all the skills. Because I can’t say habit,
I drive an F1 like this, so I need to drive it like that. That doesn’t work. But there’s a lot of talk about, particularly the Red Bull
over the last few years, having a style, requires a style that only you can deliver. It makes really interesting reading if you’re like me and a nerd. Yeah. ‘Cause I know that it must be the case. There must be something there that you can do that no one else can. Like I said, I just adapt to what I got. Yeah. It’s not what I like.
Yeah. It’s just what I have. So, I better try and drive to it ’cause that’s the fastest
way to go around the track, but it’s not, it’s not what
I personally would like. I mean, I would like
different bits of a car. Well, this season has been extraordinary because you’ve definitely
had some pole positions that outperformed the car. Does that make you smile more when you know the rest
of the world’s going. When you know Fernando Alonso
points a screen and goes, “Wow, only he can do that.” Yeah. That’s gotta make you
feel good, hasn’t it? Of course it does. But, of course, I’m not doing it to show the people of
course what I’m capable of. I’m doing it because I want to just try and be the best at, with myself, because I’m quite probably in that sense, quite a perfectionist. It’s never good enough. And if I can of course
come out of the car, and I can say to myself,
that was pretty good. Yeah. It’s never good enough but pretty good. Pretty. Have you ever said that was really good? I’ve had a few apps that
were pretty good, yeah. When you look back at it. You said pretty good again. Yeah, pretty. Yeah, it was, I mean,
I think even last year, Jeddah qualifying, like
my first run in Q3. Yeah. I came back in the box. I was like, like, shit, like, I cannot do. I say honestly.
That was special. I don’t think I can do this again. Yeah. And I actually didn’t go
faster in the second run, so I couldn’t do it again. Yeah. Your motor skills are
clearly other-worldly. I don’t understand how
you drive on the limit, and then I’ll have two clips
there, multi this, multi that. I’ll go one back on the diff here. How on earth do you do that? Practice, again.
Is that it? Yeah. I mean, so when I joined Formula One also you had to get better at it because I remember very well that the very first time
that I did it, you know, I could maybe do a few switch changes and then the more experience you get, the more you can do it. And now, with the wheel that I have, because of course I’m
at the same team already for a long time, I can
almost just do it blind. You know, I could just change
it without even looking at it. But it points towards you
having spare capacity. Oh, for sure. This is very important. And that’s how you make
decisions, isn’t it? That is where I think the difference is between a very good driver and then the really, really good drivers. But it’s the moments where
you’re under pressure in very difficult situations, that’s where the top, top
drivers will make the difference. In the whatever, wet, safety car scenario, slippery conditions, making these switch changes
to maybe find half a tenth around the lap, you know, little details. That’s where you have to, the
really good drivers make up. Okay, overtaking, I reckon you redefined the art of overtaking in Formula One. At times, some people
may not have liked it, but, Jesus, you were effective. How much of that is
just down to your style and the way that you push? How much of it’s down to
interpreting the rules? I bet you read the rule book, don’t you? Yeah, I think it’s a
combination of things. Naturally, how I grew up, you know, the things that I practiced from when I was a kid with
my dad and my friends. I mean, even when I was
like eight years old, I had my dad in one,
like a higher category, so, faster engine
basically on the go-kart. Yep. Or what, 12 years old? And we would practice like race starts, two-lap races, then reset. One time we start first. One time we start fifth or sixth, and we just kept on moving
position on the grid, you know? Yep. Now my dad, of course
he was a bit heavier, so then he took a faster engine, but then that was also good
because then he would race us. He would like send it
into corners, defend, overtake, and like I said, two-lap races. So, you do your start, and then you try to fight
your way to the front, or sometimes of course
you get shuffled back. And we did this so many times,
even on our summer holidays. This was our summer holiday practice. There’s that famous quotation
again, actually it’s Senna. “If you see a gap, and
you don’t go for it, “you’re no longer a racing driver.” Yeah. A bit of me really does believe that. Sometimes you can still use that argument into the steward’s office as well. Have you used those words? Of course. Some of the imagery of when
you started though, like that. I just remember the crazy, how did he not lose that spin at Interlagos in the wet? You’re going up the hill. Fully sideways.
That was a big one. And we were all watching
it going, is he human? How on earth is that not spun? That, honestly for me,
that one was like 50-50, luck, 50 skills because
you need to have the luck and because there’s a bit
of banking in that corner. Yeah. So, I spun, and then when I spun, luckily the front started to come back, back towards the, to the right basically. So, as soon as I felt it was coming back, I knew that just before the barrier, if you release the brakes, then you get the rolling
speed of the tyre, and you have a bit more. It would almost drag you forward. Yes.
Like front wheel drive. Yeah.
Okay. Do you like front wheel drive?
No. No? No, I think it’s really boring. Yeah, we call it wrong wheel drive. Yeah, it’s really boring. When you drive it in a car, it’s, for me it’s just like
anti-driving, you know? It’s like.
Anti-driving. Yeah, it’s like I drove it sometimes on the simulator as well. For me, it’s the worst thing ever. Also, what you are asking of the tyre seems a huge burden on
the, it has to steer. Yeah. And put the power down. So, you have to be almost
like V style more, you know? To be straight out or as much as you can. Now, we’re getting. So, the V style, right? Yeah. Now, this is the driving
style conversation. I can drag you into. To explain to the casual viewer, the V style is what I call
modern racing driving, where you’re looking to
V straight into the apex and get straight out again. You’re not tryin’ to drive
the radius of the corner. Is that the way forward? It’s very complicated. It’s not like I can sit here and say you have to do this or that. Yeah. Because it’s not. It simply is not, and every car I think is
a little bit different. Yeah. Even in the same category. I mean, I’ve driven a lot of GT3 cars. You have to drive them all different. So, is it fair to say that part of your really incredible
skill is that you can? Like adaptability. Yeah, you, the adaptability, but also you can identify
where the issues might be. Yeah, it’s very important.
And look for them. It’s very important, yeah. Yeah. Always understand what is the biggest limitation
of the car that you have. That’s what you have to fix first. We’re gonna go to a
circuit a bit later on, but I have to ask you now, how quickly do you learn a circuit? Normally, the target is
always within five laps. Really? To be on a time? That’s what my dad always taught me from when I was a kid in a go-kart. Five laps?
Yeah. He said, “You need to be on
the limit straight away.” Like, you know, good lap times ’cause sometimes you could go out, ah, just drive and see what happens. My dad was always there like, no, we go out, and we have
to be on it straight away. And I think that’s really interesting because if you just go out
and see what it’s like. Yeah, that’s.
You inadvertently set your limit to that point, don’t you? Yeah. That’s never, yeah, that’s
never how I approach it. Especially also because in motors sports, so once you move out of go-karting, you don’t have a lot of time. There is not a lot of
availability to test or you know. In a race week you have FP1, FP2 maybe, and then you go into qualify. It’s no time to talk, is it? There’s no time to get up to speed. You have to be up to speed straight away. So, when people that watch the sport hear, oh, I lost some time in FP1, FP2 ’cause we had a technical issue, that it really puts you on the back foot. I mean, yeah, it’s not ideal, especially if you’re quite new to the championship or the car. It is very important that
you get your running in. Right, now this is gonna look a bit weird. Okay, follow me out here please. Right. I’ve got a really wet back. Same.
Yeah. It’s quite warm in there. Over here. I’d love to play petanque with you. Yeah. But I’m gonna pick this stick up instead. Right. I’ll give you a stick in a minute if you feel like I’m
threatening you by it. Yeah, sure. I’ll take over the stick in a bit. You will, you can have stick, right. So, race school, you used
to have a flip chart, right? You used to have the paper
chart, and you’d have a corner. Yeah. I’m drawing a corner here ’cause I’m not gonna let you go on this. I want to know how you deal
with the anatomy of a corner. ‘Cause corners matter to you, don’t they? Yeah, of course. Say your line.
Of course. They’re like your career. I have to deal with it. Right. So, we come into a corner like this. We’re back at race school,
and you’re teaching me now. Or imagine that your dad’s
talking you through it, right? So, there’s our corner. It’s quite a fast corner. It’s quite a fast corner, and there’s probably your turn, let’ say. There’s your apex, and there’s your exit. Yeah. We can start back here, but I want to know the critical parts of the anatomy of a corner from you. So, it’s a flat corner, not banked, right? It’s a flat corner. See, look, it’s all coming out. So, let’s just say it’s
cambered a bit helpfully. Okay. So a little bit of camber. It’s not bad camber. Yeah. Up. Yeah. So, we’re coming in. Yeah, so of course you try to optimize it all the way to the white line, right? Yep. If there is no curb here, it just cross. Yeah. You run it up to the white line. Yeah. I would say. Interesting. Well, wait. I would do like a later if it’s a little bit banked also. It would be a later turn. I would do a later turn, and then you of course
then come out again. So, I might have the stick back. So, the Max Verstappen special sauce, and there clearly is
some special sauce, is. It’s quite a late turn. Is the magic happening here,
or is it happening here? I think it’s happening here. You have to always commit
to the entry of the corner, but again, it’s a balance because if you commit too hard on entry, you will probably oversteer or understeer, and then you have no exit. So, it’s like you have to feel what you can do on entry today. And of course pick up
throttle nicely again on. But that’s a lovely place.
On the exit. What you can do on entry, I don’t think anyone else can do. But that’s where you have
to find your limit, yeah. Yeah. And if it’s then a bit nicely banked, actually when I look at
it now, it is a bit late. It’d be there. Yeah, it’s a bit sooner. And I bet if we put it
into a mainframe computer, that would be exactly.
That would be a bit easier. No, but you’d be exactly
the same, wouldn’t it? It’s where you pointed out. Oh, yeah. But do you look at corners, and are you interested by trying
to unlock their potential? Do you look at it and go, this is where I’m gonna have my advantage? Honestly, it’s very hard to know where your advantage is gonna be because at the end of the
day, also as a driver, in F1, unfortunately, the
cars are not the same so. Yeah. You’re sometimes just a bit limited with the car that you got. Yeah. So, for example, I know with the car that I got at the moment, we are quite good in the high speeds. I know that’s where I can
get a bit of my advantage, But I also know that in the low speed maybe it’s a bit more difficult. So, that is where you then need, try to not lose too much time. You need to find the optimum balance. But then again, some tracks have a lot of high speed corners. Some don’t. So then, it’s like how I can still extract the most out of the car that we got. I think I’m learning something. It’s difficult this. I’m gonna get the special sauce. It’s not easy. Can we go to a track and
actually try this for real? Yeah, sure.
Thank you. I think that’s always a bit easier to. It’s always easier to show than draw it. Would you like the stick? I don’t think we need the stick anymore. Okay, let’s go. Come on. We’ve got a regulation change coming. Yeah. Thoughts? You know, I think it’s important to be a bit in the middle of it. You know, like, from the outside, personally it doesn’t
look as the most exciting. But on the other hand,
I’m also like, let’s see. Wait and see. Maybe honestly like it is fun. I think from our side, of course, what is exciting is of course that Ford is stepping in with us and see how our partnership can develop. That is for sure the
exciting bit about it. Ford’s fascinating because people think of
Ford as just making like either F-150 trucks or normal Sedans. No, they have a massive
history in motorsports. Look at the car we’re sitting in. This is insane.
Yeah. We’re about to go and see an
even more insane road car. And without Ford, there would be no Formula One in the modern era ’cause the DFV was in just about every Formula One car in the ’70s. Yes. As a customer engine. This sport would’ve ended. People forget about that, yeah. No, exactly. I mean it’s, and even to this day, they’re involved in so
many racing projects, and of course they’re
coming back to Le Mans with a hypercar as well so. Come on. You’d fancy that, wouldn’t you? Of course, a hypercar for sure. I like of course the GT3 you want to do your Nordschleife, your 24 hours of Spa. But then, of course maybe
the other ones you want to probably do it in the fastest category. The other one that I love, which is 12 hours, is Sebring. Yeah, Sebring. I’ve been fortunate enough
to drive there once. What a circuit. With the bumps. It’s nuts. It’s insane that that’s
still like out there. So, you need to do Daytona
so you get a watch. All of them. All of them. I really want to do all of them. There’s something about
you entering a circuit. I think the perimeter of the circuit, when you enter that
circuit, a switch goes off. Yeah, I mean, honestly. Well, so if I would come to a new track, first thing, of course what you would do is of course you look at onboards. Yep.
Whatever you can find. Yep. What I actually also like to do is look at Google Maps sometimes. Do you? So, you just have it in your head, yeah. So, you’re visualizing it the whole time? Yep, so you can think
about it already a bit. What about the track walk? Do you think the track walk’s overstated? I never do it anymore. 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. Because it became almost like a part of the uniform, didn’t it? If you didn’t do the track walk, you had. Yeah, that’s terrible. I mean, honestly to walk for
like five to seven kilometers, 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. Have you been here before? Once, yeah, last year. I drove the super van, the electric one. You know, the van.
no. That’s quite fast. Guess where I drove that last? Nord’s?
Yes. You drove it there? My dad drove it there as well. In the wet, in the nice weather. Oh, okay, the wet. All slicks. They only had slicks for it.
No way. It was a film they never showed after they canceled the show. Yeah. They never showed the film, but I was. I can imagine you must have.
Shit myself. Yeah, I can imagine. Because it’s so fast. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I drove it here and accelerated. I was like, even I was like, holy shit. Like, what is this? Pulled the hand brake a little bit in the hairpin ’cause
it was quite a tight. I went in, and I lost the rear bits. Yeah. So, I just pulled the handbrake, and then I did a 360, and continued. I would think it’s on purpose. Just like, ooh. We’re gonna stop here now.
Yeah. We’re gonna look at this corner. A nice hairpin. It’s a nice hairpin. So, are you visualizing what
you can do round this corner, or are you just thinking
that’s another tight turn? Yeah, but only like, so if
we would just drive past, I would just look at it and then, okay. You know, you see the color of the tarmac. You see if it’s dirty or not. Then, you go to.
Ah, you see. A little BC. Yeah, little well, ’cause conditions. A little bit of the special
sauce is coming out now. Conditions, you know,
now it’s nice and sunny. You checked of course what was the weather the last day or whatever. Did it rain overnight or not? Little bit. Whether it’s green. Exactly. Okay.
Yeah. I’m getting somewhere. You’re getting more. Well, at the end of the day,
it’s also preparation, right? You have to just prepare yourself. Yeah.
Look at everything. Do you still get excited by race circuits? Yeah, I mean, honestly, the night before I drove the Nord, I can feel it when I’m sleeping. You’re just more excited
than maybe some other nights. Yeah. Wow. Okay. That’s a spicy color. Let’s, I’m gonna reverse it in. I like that. Look at that. I like that color. You need one of those
as a company car, man. Is that my private car? Let’s just leave this sort of. Yeah, I need to get that next year. Look at that. Look at that. That’s very lovely. Come on. I like that blue color. Blue is my favorite color so. Wow. Shall we have a look? Yeah. Whoa. This is my car for Monaco, yeah? Look at this. I love this color. But look at this thing. So, who’s driving now? You. I know. I just deal with the old difficult one, and then you, I mean it makes sense. It’s your.
Hold up. If you could pick ’cause
you like old cars. No, it’s this. Because this is not, if
this had 600 horse power. Yeah, yeah, okay then.
Fine. But no, as it is, this. Look at it. This is fantastic. I mean, how extreme have
these things become now? Yeah, yeah. Because this is really not far off a GT3 car around the ring. No, for sure. It’s the, even here, I can say the weight, but it’s not even that much in it so. What do these do, 6:52? 6:52, 6:48? [Ford Engineer] 6:52. 52, you see. I think we could do a 47. Yeah, I think. So, we take five seconds off for him. [Ford Engineer] Just give it a try. Come on, have a sit. Have a sit. Just checkin’ the tyres, you know. Yeah, I know. Wait, let me in. They’ve had a life. I have a question for you. How do you like to sit in the car always? Like quite close to the, to
the pedals or quite far away? I need to be close to
the wheel, and it’s been. I need to have my wrists
on the top of the wheel with some bend in my arm always. Yeah. Otherwise I can’t drive the car. What about you? So, I’m taller than my dad, right? Yeah. But he actually sits further
back than me in a race car, but if I do that, I have no feel. And it’s interesting. No feel is the thing, isn’t it? Yeah. Because you’re steering
with your shoulders. Well, I just feel like I’m
in a tractor or whatever. I feel always I have to be close. But does that give you a problem with your legs then or not? No, because, well I, so what
I normally always do already straight away in a race car or road car, I pull it as far back as
I can towards me close. That looks like a fairly
good position, that does. Yeah, I just actually pulled
the seat a bit forward. So, I’m quite happy already. So, I’ve dealt with the one that basically nearly broke my left leg, and I’m sweating and now, yeah. Yeah. That’s what you get if you
win four World Championships. You get to choose the easier one. I just love the fact they
did this with a Mustang. Yeah. You know? They turn the Mustang into a car that can basically match a Porsche GT’s VRS around the Nordschleife. Looks nice, huh? It’s beautiful. I love, also, I love all the cutaways. It it is aggressive. It’s like it’s semi-naked, you know? It’s like it’s wearin’ a bikini. You can see a lot. Is it a he or a she then? All cars are she. Do you call your cars a she? No, actually I don’t gender
cars, but this is probably. Oh, well, yeah, no, I mean. This is probably a she. I always, my cars are he.
Are they? Yeah, even my fun car. It’s not a she. It’s a he? It’s a he. Has it got a name? Well, I only named my ’23 car. Did you? Called him Rocky.
Yes. I think he deserved that. Yeah, he did. Okay, well, I think.
This is a proper. We need to get this started up because I wanna see. I wanna to experience this. Who’s got keys? Jesus, all right. Lookin’ good in the mirror? I’m just tryin’ to make sure that my eighth chin
isn’t stickin’ out, mate. What’s this here? [Ford Engineer] That is a data
acquisition system for us. It will automatically log it. I still need a lot of data off of this car so this is a golden opportunity for me. So, actually you can now claim he helped develop the car as well. [Ford Engineer] Absolutely. He is a help developing the car right now. Just think of, just think. I hope so. Guys, so please make
sure that green button, that green one is on.
Yeah, okay. [Ford Engineer] That’s it. It will have to.
Yeah, it’s all good. [Ford Engineer] So, gentlemen, that’s it. Have fun.
Okay, let’s go. That’s his first lap. Just having a look. You call this having a look? Yeah. Jesus. So, for those of you that don’t know, GTD is Ford’s absolute track Mustang. 800 horsepower, and it,
good God, the dynamics for a car this big. Is very responsive on the front. Is it? It feels like a really good front end. Yeah. Oh. It’s been.
Are you good? F***, Jesus, to be battered by Multimatic. I’m spitting ’cause it’s all a bit much. Dear, that is so bumpy. Yeah. It is sensational, for a big heavy car. Yeah, it accelerates quick. Bit of curve. That’s totally blind into there, isn’t it? Totally blind. Yeah, it is. Ooh, this is tight. This is a really cool little circuit, Max. Yeah. Are we gonna take off? Jesus.
Ah, a little bit. That’s 220, 230 airborne. 245 into the breaking zone in
what is effectively a tank. It is. It’s amazing what they can do. Engineers are clever. I like the sound as well.
Yeah. So, what’s the style here? Carry as much in and finish the corner? And take a bit of the curve, yeah. It’s quite a tight corner so
you want to try and cut it. Yep. Dearie me. The damping is superb. Yeah, it’s great. We needed it. Well, so in here it’s nice and puffy. That’s really bumpy. 249. Was that what they call
a not deliberate V? The brake was a bit long. Jesus Christ. God. He’s using every inch of the circuit. From the out lap, he was absolutely on it. And now, now he’s looking. I can see you’re looking
for extra bits, aren’t you? Can I go there? Can I go a bit further there? He’s looking. Cut it a bit. Oh. It’s dead impressive. It’s very nice. So, this is Ford’s GT3 RS rival. He’s just done 6:52 around
the Nordschleife now. But we factor in the fact that Max appears to have already broken the lap record there in a GT3 car. We can take five seconds
off that, can’t we? We can try. I don’t, I can’t have
you in the car though. No, what are you saying? We need every bit we can
to perform, you know? Oh, I thought you were
calling me fat, which I am. No, I would never do that. Good Lord. Okay, we pour, a flash, was
that a flash of lightning? Yeah. Wow. You left for braking. Whoop, whoop, whoop. The damping over that
quick stuff is sensational. Yeah. I mean, it’s quite bumpy To control a big, heavy car like that. Oh, he’s letting it slide around a bit. Geez, God. Oh. Bottomed a bit. Look at the rubber you’re laying down. We have the works.
Oh, there’s the rain. There’s the rain. Yeah.
Right. So, first impressions of the GTD. You smell the brakes?
Yeah. Nice, huh? Yeah, no, it’s great. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun. For something that big. It’s great. What I find fascinating is that someone with a big forehead has worked out how to control the mass like that. ‘Cause that’s not easy, is it? Yeah, it’s definitely not easy, and you know, it’s still, you can of course fully
design it for a track, but this is a road car. Yeah. It needs to drive on the road. And it doesn’t feel too stiff, does it? No, honestly, it’s been really fun, and actually the visibility has been much better than I expected. We were lucky to get out in time. Yes. I really like it. I think it’s cool. It’s not far off GT3 RS, this, is it? No, I don’t think so. It’s been, it’s really, really agile. Do you have one ordered or not? No, I didn’t actually. I didn’t even speak to them about it yet. But.
What? I think we need to discuss it. Terms. To have one in Monaco, you know? Yes. But it’s good to see that
you were enjoying it. Yeah.
You’re smiling. Well, that’s always important. When it’s like nice and racy, you know, you feel the grip. The response is good of
the brakes, the shifts. But is there some, are you enjoying trying to
unlock this individual car? Work out where the front axle’s doing? Back axle.
Find the limits. What the diff is doing? Yeah, find the limits basically. Also here, like I tried
to cut as much as I could before like actually really
heavily bottoming out. Yeah. You could hear the last lap. I tried to cut more. Yeah. And I bottomed out quite heavily. Yeah.
That’s too much. So, you want to then have a
bit more of a round about. I’m taking one thing away from you, and that is this sense
of being on the limit. Whatever you do,
particularly with the car, as long as you’re on the
limit, you’re having fun. Yeah, exactly. You can have that phrase
for free by the way. That should be your new
merge, on the limit. Always on the limit. Well, look at that. I enjoyed that. I think that was really cool. Thank you. I mean, I normally don’t
really enjoy the media stuff, but I thought this was a lot of fun. Thank you, Max. Even though I have to go. So, I’ll leave you in here. Okay. Process a bit, and I’ll see you next time. Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Max. Thank you. I wanna, I think I got
some of the special sauce. I think I got some of it, but I’ve always got this
sense that he’s just. He’s one or two steps ahead of you, that he’s sort of controlling
what he’s giving you. Of course he is. That’s why he’s got four
World Championships. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed
that as much as I did. ‘Cause I flipping loved it, and I will tell my
grandchildren about today. Ah.
Max Verstappen Drives the New Ford Mustang GTD with Chris Harris | Ford Performance | Red Bull Ford Powertrains
Join four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen and automotive expert @ChrisHarrisOnCars on an unforgettable road trip in two legendary @FordPerformance machines.
Kicking things off in the iconic Ford RS200, Max and Chris dive into the evolution of driving styles, the role of relentless practice in Max’s rise to the top of F1, and the mindset it takes to stay there. Then it’s off to the track, where Max unleashes the all-new Ford Mustang GTD — a road-legal performance beast built to dominate.
Along the way, they discuss:
The upcoming 2026 F1 regulation changes
Ford’s rich motorsport legacy
And the excitement building as Ford prepares to return to the Formula 1 grid with Red Bull Racing in 2026
A Red Bull Technologies production for Ford Performance.
#MaxVerstappen #FordPerformance #MustangGTD #ChrisHarris #RS200 #RedBullRacing #F12026 #FordF1 #Motorsport #CarCulture #Redbullf1
00:00 Intro
01:02 Meet the RS200
03:04 Chris meets Max
05:17 Heading out on the road
08:38 Modern Style of F1 Driving
11:02 Practice makes perfect
17:53 Race school with Max and Chris.
21:38 Regulations for 2026
23:30 Learning a new track
26:01 The all-new Mustang GTD
30:38 Heading out on track
36:58 Box, Box
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