Verstappen made Red Bull mechanic nervous as a passenger: 'He could have been injured'

On his Instagram account, Nicholas posted a video in which he shared the related story. "It's a couple of years ago, pre-season, and we're doing our normal filming day. Every year, all the teams, before you go to pre-. So as usual, we're at Silverstone. We're getting ready to send the car out for its first laps of the season. With of course, Max Verstappen behind the wheel." he began.

Still, the Dutchman had to wait his turn. Engineer Lambiase had other ideas. "It was cold and wet. Gianpiero, being cautious as he is, said that he needed someone to drive Max and himself around the circuit for a reconnaissance. I immediately said: I want to do that," Nicholas continued.

Lambiase agreed with this. At that time, Nicholas owned a 2013 Audi RS6. He talked about how he had already driven around 160,000 kilometers with it. Yet he had never driven on a real circuit, hence he seized this opportunity with both hands. When he was finally ready to depart, he felt more tension than he had anticipated.

The cause of this tension? Firstly: fuel! Nicholas explained, he didn't have a full tank. However, that wasn't the most important point. "Off we went, Max got in the passenger seat and Lambiase sat in the back. I didn't want to go too fast, so I drove at a moderate speed. Max kept saying that I should go faster while Gianpiero said: 'That's enough Calum.'"

For world champion Verstappen, this wasn't enough. To have a bit of fun, the Dutchman stirred things up. Nicholas said: "Max did make me laugh at one point because that's where approaching Maggots and Becketts. Bear in mind I'm already doing a fair lick, he just says to me, 'it's flat for it here.' . At this Calum responded: "Mate it is not! And I ain't got the balls for that."

Still, everything turned out fine. "But anyway, we all made it around the lap safely, which is good, because I would not have wanted to explain to Health and Safety why a pretty key member of the team was injured before the season starts" oncluded the former mechanic. 

And what about the fuel? That was solved too. Nicholas explained how he reached the petrol station on the last drops.

Nicholas wasn't the only former colleague of Verstappen who shared special stories about the collaboration. Also, the former trainer of Verstappen hinted at how they took on Lewis Hamilton in 2021.