Miami Gardens, Florida - If you're waiting for Max Verstappen to feel stressed or frightened, or like all other racers in car history, becoming obsessed with the next generation suddenly filling his rearview mirror, then, you can keep waiting. Because he did nothing.

The 27-year-old four-time defending Formula 1 world champion wandered to the Miami Grand Prix paddock on Friday morning, not looking like the two-time champion of the game, nor the winner of the 64-game F1 event. You don't know that he just welcomed a newborn daughter when he politely browses photographers and fans. And as he glided into an infield cabana for a sit-down interview, one would have no clue that he was doing so amid swirling rumors of unhappiness at Red Bull, because he has won "only" one of the five races run this season and is ranked "only" third in the championship standings, behind the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris -- touted as the youth movement of the sport, but only three and two years younger than Verstappen respectively.

No, he looks like a guy in the garage, exactly where he should be, he has been his life, but now knows his place better than ever.

"You just do your best. We are not the fastest team right now. We are trying to stay competitive, but in the end, at the end of the day, it won't change my life in any way," Verstappen said, not in the case of being ridiculed, not in fact, but in fact, when there was more and more effort on Red Bull, sometimes with tough people, and this hard thing, it's tough deal. understand. ”

On the permanent heat titanium intensity of the F1 grid, the low-key tone of Horner's No. 1 driver is just as hard to understand for those around him - especially when he hits them again. Likewise, for the billions of people who consume the sport on TV, whether it’s live events or streaming reality shows, and believe they know who the real Max is. (Spoiler alert: He said they didn't do it, and he said he didn't care.)

But even now, when escaping with a checkered flag is not as easy as before, no matter how misunderstood, his manner does become more easy-going.

"I'm here, doing what I can, going home, doing other things, and going to the next game, doing what I can, and going home again," he said. "So, there's not a lot of stress or anything else for me. When I'm at home, I don't think actively, 'Oh, like my P3 in the championship game, I need to do something!' or "What should I do?" ! ”Like over the years, you know what to do and don’t do.

The hot topic for such a statement is that it is the voice of a new father, whose neurochemistry is immediately changed by the arrival of his first child with long-time girlfriend Kelly Piquet, daughter Lily, born this week in Monaco.

But his competitors know better. The coldness of Verstappen is nothing new. It always runs against his hammer temperament on the track, although even those who know him well have noticed his faint tone. Before Lily was born, the trend seemed to have shifted to higher gear.

See: This question tends toward this speech, which made Horner so annoyed on Thursday. How long does Verstappen take? He couldn't have been like his friend Fernando Alonso, who was 43 years old, his first F1 title was approaching his 20th anniversary, right?

"No," Verstappen said to the idea, laughing.

“Until 2028, I had a contract, so it’s certainly true that after this, it also depends on whether there are any projects, whether interesting or not,” the man has a team in GT3, Rally and Virtual Racing. “After winning my first title (2021), everything that follows is a reward, and that’s really what I see.

"As long as I like it, I do it, and I can connect myself to the movement I want. As long as I like it, that's it, that's it. Enjoy it. And, you know, discover something that can throw away your family."

See also He's willing to praise champion leader Piastri, who was only 24 last month and won three of the five games this year and won five of his career victories in the past nine months. After finishing second in Saudi Arabia's Australian, Verstappen said of Piastri: "He's in his third year and is very solid. He's very calm. His approach is calm, I like it. It shows his pace. He has to make mistakes when he has to make mistakes, and that's what you need when you want to win a championship."

If you are unfamiliar with how racing drivers work, please praise the person you participated in one of the championship battles? Yes, that's not super typical. But it is also a racer's logo, not long ago, the young party veterans championship battle, and now the wise man himself.

“When people ask me a question, and I want to answer, I’m going to answer it in my own way, I’m always honest, open, and straightforward, I think. But, that’s what I look like, you know,” Verstappen said, trying to avoid the angle of “You like to graduate, do you like to graduate from a wise old Paddock Sage Sage?” question, but it sounds like, yes, a wise old paddock saint.

“I have a lot of respect for young people who are also participating in the sport, Oscars do a great job and I feel like you need to try to hide it. It’s not a weakness. And, for me, for me, to me, to a man, say positive or negative.

As a young racer who became a legend, you still remember those who did you good. You really remember those who are not, right?

"You know, a lot of drivers who are still in the paddock or around the paddock, I think that's good, you know when you build a good relationship between drivers."

If this is like a group hug, like the sudden lack of killer instinct, then it is read wrong. Listen loudly, he still sounds like Max Verstappen, the third winner in Formula 1.

Until now, he sounded like a man, and he figured out that many of the other people in his chosen career had never had: a work-life balance. One of us who watched grow up before our eyes, determined to dial the perfect personal settings like we have used so many racing machines over the years.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”