The Milton Keynes team’s ambassador revealed that he had received messages from several people who had mistakenly believed he had died after seeing a post circulating on Facebook.

After becoming aware of the situation, he took it upon himself to set the record straight via his X profile: “This is an odd thing to have to tweet. I woke up this morning to a few messages from people who’d seen a Facebook post claiming I had died.

He finally added: “I am going skiing today though, so there’s hope for you yet. Have a great day. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

Nicholas, who transitioned away from a frontline garage role at Red Bull last season to become an ambassador for the Milton Keynes squad, spoke highly of the Dutch driver.

He referenced the 2023 campaign as a standout case in point, a year in which Verstappen, driving the all-conquering RB19 — often hailed as the most dominant car the sport has ever seen — claimed a remarkable 19 wins and consistently pushed the machinery to its absolute limit.