Max Verstappen and the moment the car appears

SportLocation Formula 1 Desk · 27 Sept 2026

At trackside, the long view down the circuit gives way to a fleeting glimpse of an open-wheel car heading away.

Formula 1 can look very different from the edge of the circuit. The track stretches away in the sun, spectators keep their phones and cameras trained on it, and for a few seconds there is no car in sight.

Then an open-wheel car appears in the distance, its red rear-wing panel just visible as it drives away. The moment is brief; the sense of anticipation comes from the wait before it, with the spectators fixed on the strip of tarmac ahead.

That’s the detail in this Max Verstappen-labelled F1 footage: not a confirmed Verstappen appearance, but a glimpse of how quickly a car can arrive and disappear from a trackside view. The circuit is quiet again almost as soon as the car has passed.