Charles Leclerc is generally seen driving around in one of the latest models of Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton, however, sometimes takes his LaFerrari out for a spin instead of a car from the trusted Mercedes collection. Well, Max Verstappen was also spotted in a rival’s car, but it wasn’t a Ferrari. It was a $3 Million beast designed by Adrian Newey for a relatively new Red Bull rival. Can you guess which beast is being referred to here?

By now, Max Verstappen’s name has become synonymous with Red Bull. Ever since the beginning of his F1 career, Verstappen has been with the Red Bull family. The 25-year-old has won 2 titles with the Milton Keynes stable and is en route to winning his 3rd one. Yet, with the F1 summer break going on, Max Verstappen decided to ditch Red Bull and his simulator setup to take a rival’s car for a spin.

What? Yes, we were as shocked as you were. And to make it even more shocking, this rival car was designed by the Red Bull mastermind Adrian Newey. Now, we understand you might have a lot of questions and we promise to answer them all. The car that we’re talking about here is the Aston Martin Valkyrie. The $3 Million hypercar was co-developed with Adrian Newey when Aston Martin was Red Bull’s partner back in the late 2010s. 

Just so it happens, Max Verstappen has the privilege of owning this amazing hypercar. Verstappen’s friend Mark Cox recently uploaded a video on his Instagram story where the Dutchman can be seen driving the Valkyrie with the headphones on. The caption to the story is “Aston Martin Valkyrie @maxverstappen1”. Verstappen can be seen driving the car with one hand on the steering and the on the infotainment system.

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However, if you think about it, Verstappen didn’t ditch Red Bull as his F1 team doesn’t actually have any road-going cars. But why the headphones? Why is it such a big deal if he’s driving with one hand? After all, all cars have infotainment systems. Well, the Valkyrie isn’t just any other regular hypercar. 

What exactly is the Aston Martin Valkyrie all about that Max Verstappen was seen driving

Valkyrie is essentially an F1 car for the road. The car has a 6.5L V12 that revs up to 11,000 rpm Combined with the hybrid system, the car produces a total of 1140 HP. The engine was developed in collaboration with Cosworth. Those who’ve been watching F1 for a while would know that Cosworth was once an engine supplier in F1. Anyways Verstappen needed the headphones because of the noise from the engine as the cabin is made completely out of carbon fiber with little to no sound sound insulation.

Mercedes also has a model that is similar to Valkyrie. It’s called the Mercedes AMG ONE. However, the only similarities are that it’s also essentially an F1 car for the road. The power train is completely different and let’s just say, it’s not as extreme or brutal as the Valkyrie. The AMG ONE features a 1.6L Turbo Hybrid powertrain, which is a derivative of the current engines used in F1.

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What do you think about Max Verstappen driving the Aston Martin Valkyrie?