Max Verstappen has six Driver of the Day awards in 2026. He also has a fanbase that would vote for him in a coma. This is a love letter — and a roast.
F1 DESK | OPINION
Let’s be clear before the orange army storms the replies: Max Verstappen is a four-time World Champion. This is not an attack on Max.
This is an attack on you.
Because in 2026, Driver of the Day quietly stopped being an award for the best drive and became something far more sinister — a loyalty card. A little digital sticker handed to Max for showing up, redeemed by a fanbase that would give him the trophy if he reversed the entire race through the pit lane.
And here’s the sweetest poison of all: Max doesn’t even like the season you keep rewarding him for.
“Anyone who enjoys this racing doesn’t know what racing is about.” — Max Verstappen, about the 2026 rules, roughly once a month
Your king said the season is rubbish. You responded by voting him Driver of the Day six times.
Poetry.
📊 The Receipts (We Brought a Spreadsheet)
Verstappen: six DOTD awards in 2026 — the most of anyone on the grid.
Verstappen: sixth in the championship on 188 points, while Kimi Antonelli runs away with the title on 320 in a Mercedes.
His first win of the season didn’t arrive until October. And yet the awards kept coming. Let’s audit them like an accountant with a grudge:
🇺🇸 MIAMI — Max wins DOTD with 26.3% of the vote in a race he spent fighting his own car. Multiple unforced errors. Second place? Charles Leclerc, who actually drove a clean one. Didn’t matter. The fanbase’s thumb was already on autopilot.
🇭🇺 HUNGARY — Lando Norris won the race. Verstappen finished second. Guess who took Driver of the Day? The guy who didn’t win. Two men, one victory, and the loser gets the gong.
🇦🇿 AZERBAIJAN — Eighth to second, missing the win by 0.196s. Genuinely superb. Also his sixth award of the year. The bar isn’t “drove well” anymore. The bar is “exists in a Red Bull.”
🇧🇭 BAHRAIN — Max wins the race and takes DOTD with 25.9% — beating Lewis Hamilton’s 25.3%. A 0.6% margin. That is not a mandate. That is a school election where one kid’s mum runs the polling station.
At one race he pulled 39.6%. Second place got a third of that. For a drive that was, at absolute best, fine.
🎭 The Double Standard, Served Neat
Now the main course.
In 2026, the FIA loosened the racing guidelines. Stewards now hand out far fewer penalty points for contact and for shoving rivals off the track. When Max ran Hamilton wide in Brazil, the verdict was instant and unanimous across the paddock:
“Hard racing. Raw talent. Race craft. Get out of the way.”
Now flip the camera. The second anyone else does the exact same thing to Max, the same fans are screaming for a five-second penalty, a stewards’ investigation, a written apology, and possibly a prison sentence.
The only driver to pick up three penalty points for contact this season? Max. You’d never guess it from the comment sections.
So here’s the fanbase rulebook, freshly printed:
| What happened | Verdict if it’s Max | Verdict if it’s anyone else |
|---|---|---|
| Goes wide into a corner | “Champion’s aggression” | “Dangerous driving” |
| Runs a rival off track | “Intimidation, elite craft” | “Stewards, do something!” |
| Takes a penalty | “FIA is biased against him” | “About time, finally punished” |
| Finishes 2nd | “ROBBED” | “Choked” |
Same corner. Same asphalt. Different flag in the replies.
🍯 The Sweet Poison
Here’s the part that should sting.
Max built a fanbase that worships a season he publicly despises. They hand him awards for 6-out-of-10 drives. They defend his every excursion off the track and file formal complaints about everyone else’s. They’ve turned a fan vote into a standing ovation with no off switch.
That isn’t a fanbase.
That’s a subscription service.
And the saddest part? It’s hollow. Six popularity trophies and a sixth-place championship isn’t dominance — it’s a spreadsheet with feelings. Somewhere in Brackley, Antonelli is winning the title to half the fanfare, quietly wondering what more a man has to do to earn a sticker.
✅ The Fix (We’re Constructive)
Nobody’s asking you to stop loving Max. Love him loudly. Love him correctly.
Just next time you open the DOTD vote, ask yourself one honest question:
Did Max actually deserve it — or is my thumb just on autopilot?
If it’s autopilot, congratulations. You’ve found the problem.
Vote in the comments. We already know who’s winning.