Max Verstappen's attitude and driving style have shifted noticeably as Red Bull faces declining performance and internal issues.
That's the observation made by 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who has pointed out that the triple world champion seems "very depressed" lately.
"I miss the usual aggressiveness, the will to fight that we know from him," the French Canadian remarked. "Even on the radio you can hardly hear him anymore. Something has changed."
Villeneuve also highlighted it as "very unusual" that Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez has recently narrowed the performance gap between them and was faster in Baku.
Damon Hill, another former world champion and Villeneuve's former Williams teammate, shares this sentiment. "I don't always agree with Jacques," Hill told Sky, "but often I can't help it."
"It's almost like Max is accepting it. I expected him to react much more indignantly, because he's not competitive. Normally he says he won't accept it if something isn't right."
"What does this mean if it's true?" Hill wondered.
During the Azerbaijan GP weekend, there were rumours suggesting that Verstappen's father, Jos, may have had more discussions with Toto Wolff about a possible move to Mercedes for Max in 2026, with Aston Martin also emerging as a potential option.
There was a noticeable shift in Verstappen's mood over the weekend, with La Gazzetta dello Sport commenting that the Dutchman seems to be becoming "anonymous" in recent races, and La Repubblica stating he has "never been so bad."
"Max in crisis (and sad)," La Gazzetta added in another analysis.
Former F1 driver Christijan Albers, who is also Dutch, expressed doubt to De Telegraaf about Verstappen's ability to cope with Red Bull's performance struggles.
"I don't think the approach after qualifying and the races is good," Albers said.
"I understand that everyone wants to see honesty, and Max is of course a lot younger, but what I always saw with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton is that they embraced the team more."
At the same time, Red Bull has decided to scrap plans to use special liveries in Singapore and Austin due to concerns about the weight of the paint.
"Nobody (at Red Bull) can point out exactly where the problem lies," Dutch racing figure Tom Coronel told Viaplay. "Max points it out a bit, but it's certainly not a problem that can be solved in one go."
"After Singapore, they have three weeks to analyse everything a bit better or develop new parts so that the problem becomes less severe, but it won't disappear all of a sudden," he suggested.
"There's no way they'll suddenly be there again."
