Verstappen reveals the one secret to becoming an F1 champion

Max Verstappen has offered Kimi Antonelli a dose of reality about life as a newly crowned F1 champion, warning the Mercedes driver that the demands waiting for him off track are "not nice."

Antonelli became the youngest champion in F1 history on Sunday after finishing third behind two of the greats in Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

The 20-year-old has already spoken about the sheer volume of off-track duties and attention that followed, a workload Verstappen knows intimately from his own four championship wins with Red Bull.

Speaking about the morning after his first title, the Dutchman recalled the whirlwind of commitments that followed almost immediately.

"I was probably still drunk the next day," joked Verstappen, in conversation with media, including RacingNews365.

"It was quite okay, to be honest, just going in a flow and yeah, just go with it."

"I mean, it's always very special when you win your first one. There are, of course, commitments the next day. It's not nice."

"But at the same time, you always know you dreamt of winning the championship, and that was the most important thing."

"And if that's one day extra of media the next day, then you just deal with it."

"Of course, a lot more people probably know him now. He is probably an even bigger hero in Italy, but that's fine."

"He looks very normal and very humble, so I don't think a lot will change for him."

Fernando Alonso, a two-time champion, pointed out just how much the commercial and media machine around a title has grown since his own championships two decades ago.

"It's a nice problem to have for sure, but 20 years ago, I don't think that we had the content that we need today and you know the [communications] team behind," Alonso said.

"So you win, you do the press conference at home, visit the factory, say thanks to everyone at the factory, and that was it back then."

The contrast between eras underlines how different Antonelli's path will be compared to previous champions.

Antonelli's title came in a season defined by the new 2026 regulations, which have already caused unexpected headaches.

The first wet race with Formula 1's 2026 cars did not exactly prove to be a resounding success.

During the formation laps behind the safety car at the Sepang International Circuit, almost half the field came to a halt.

The issue turned out to be a software bug linked to the 250kW restrictions imposed by the FIA for wet-weather races.

That software bug caused the electric motors to go into lock-down mode in the slowest parts of the circuit.

With no electric power available to offset the turbo lag, nothing happened when the drivers pressed the throttle pedal.

In Malaysia, the restrictions were lifted for the most problematic minisectors, with the FIA sending new software to the teams and manufacturers after approximately 20 minutes.

They were then able to install the updated version in their power units to finally get the race under way.

The same emergency measure was subsequently applied in Singapore, before a test with modified software followed in Austin.

At the Circuit of the Americas, the FIA issued the following statement: "As part of the ongoing refinements to the Power Unit software for low grip mode, the FIA together with the teams and Power Unit manufacturers will run a simulation at the end of FP1, with cars running on low grip mode, using specific driver inputs during the in-lap to test additional software protections."