Max Verstappen has been chasing incrementally smaller units of time since he was four years old, when karting taught him fractions of a second. The driver reached the Formula 1 grid at 17 and has since won four world championships. In a sport that rewrites itself every few seasons, the clock has stayed his one fixed point of reference.
Racing runs in his family. His father, Jos Verstappen, drove in Formula 1, and his mother, Sophie Kumpen, was a top kart racer. When he made his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2015, he was the youngest driver ever to start a Grand Prix. His first win came at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, in his inaugural race for Red Bull, when he was 18.
AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 25: Third placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing lifts his trophy on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 25, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610260003 // Usage for editorial use only //…
TAG Heuer became the official watch partner of Red Bull Racing in 2016, the same season the Dutchman was promoted into the senior team. That nearly overlaps with his entire Red Bull career—and most of the rule changes he has raced through. “It’s just the nature of Formula 1,” he tells Surface. “It has changed, already, four times now. Quite big changes. It’s a normal procedure in Formula 1, where you just have to adapt and learn to change your behavior of driving. That’s what you’ve done your whole life, so for me at least, it’s quite natural.”
Pursuing time has defined his professional life. “You’re always chasing, initially seconds, but then it’s tenths, hundredths, thousandths. That’s been in my life already for over 20 years, 25 years.” He says the pressure runs higher in Formula 1 and the work stays the same. “I always try to be quite relaxed about it. Probably that helps the most, just being relaxed about it, not overcomplicating things.”
AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 03 RB Ford on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 24, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Simon Galloway/LAT Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610250955 // Usage for editorial use only //…
Race prep stays simple, too. “I do not think about it too much, because the more you think about it, the more you stress about it,” he says. “With the more experience that you have in your career, it’s also much easier to switch on and switch off.”
For Verstappen, instinct and telemetry (real-time data collection and analysis) work as a pair. “I think it’s a combination,” he says. “Whatever you feel, you should be able to see in the data. But sometimes very particular things are very hard to spot in the data, or you might not have a sense of it. Then it goes down to the feeling of the driver to make the final few fine adjustments.”
AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 25: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB22 Red Bull Ford Powertrains on track during the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 25, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by James Sutton/LAT Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610251064 // Usage for editorial use only //…
Verstappen sees a similarity between wristwatches and Formula 1. “How complex a watch is, the precision of a watch, I think always links very well with motorsports,” he says. “You can see that in the history of motorsports. It’s always very well linked with a watch brand.” He puts TAG Heuer at the front of that history. “It has such a big history in racing, with very special moments and special drivers that they have partnered with.” The partnership now reaches the whole grid. Since 2025, TAG Heuer has been the official timekeeper of Formula 1, so the brand’s name sits beside every lap time he chases.
He first noticed the brand watching Formula 1 on TV as a boy, when TAG Heuer was still partnered with McLaren. “They were just really, really cool watches,” he says, “and of course back in the day with Senna as well. It’s just really cool to be able to work with them,” he says, adding that the watches they’ve launched together have grown more prestigious over time.
AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 25: Race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team and Third placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 25, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Simon Galloway/LAT Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610251144 // Usage for editorial use only //…
His favorite model, the Monaco, was on his wrist during our interview. Verstappen lives in the principality, and its Grand Prix has long been the race he wanted most. He has won it twice, in 2021 and 2023. TAG Heuer has made a tradition of marking his weekends there with watches of his own. In 2021, the brand handed him a one-off Monaco Titan on the eve of the race. Two days later, he won. “I’ve been fortunate to win it, and to have received a few Monacos over time as well,” he says, “and the different kinds of styles of Monaco.”
The one on his wrist today is the most demanding of the lot: a personalized Monaco split-seconds chronograph, presented to him in Monaco by TAG Heuer CEO Julien Tornare, its caseback engraved with the words World Champion and his name. A rattrapante carries two seconds hands stacked one over the other. Press a pusher and one hand stops to hold an intermediate time while the other keeps sweeping, the mechanical equivalent of a split on a timing screen. “It’s a split second, so it’s very complicated to make,” Verstappen says. “If you want to time separately, it’s possible. For me, the shape of the watch, I think, is just very iconic, too.”
