31/08/2026
Max Verstappen has now spun or crashed six times in 2026.
For almost any other driver, that would already be one of the biggest narratives of the season.
To be fair, these were not six driver errors.
Austria and Silverstone were linked to rear-aero or rear-wing failures, while the exact cause of his Australian qualifying crash remained unclear.
But Miami, Hungary and Zandvoort were mistakes.
What interests me is how differently those mistakes are presented.
In Miami, the spectacular 360° recovery was celebrated as another demonstration of Verstappen’s brilliance — while the error that dropped him from P2 to P10 almost disappeared from the story.
At other times, explanations surrounding the car arrive so quickly that the possibility of driver error barely gets discussed.
This doesn’t mean Verstappen has suddenly forgotten how to drive. It means that, with a more unpredictable car and greater pressure, he is showing the same vulnerability as every other driver.
The dominant years may have hidden how fine those margins really were.
Greatness and fallibility can coexist. But if Verstappen is presented as the best driver in F1, his mistakes should be judged by the same standards as everyone else’s.
So after what we have seen in 2026: is Max Verstappen still the best driver on the grid — or is his reputation now doing part of the work?
