Behind the wheel with Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda
by Chris Fowler
November 19, 2025 - 8 min
In episode five of Securing the Win, Formula 1® journalist and broadcaster Chris Medland takes us inside the cockpit with Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda to uncover what it takes to win. Through their words and the unseen organization that powers them, Medland discovers how every team member at Oracle Red Bull Racing works together to make the car go faster.
After exploring leadership, security, and trust behind the scenes, Securing the Win brings us closer to the people at the center of it all: the drivers. They are the ultimate end users of Oracle Red Bull Racing’s innovation, demonstrating how a global network of people, technology, and security performs under pressure.
Chemistry, culture, trust: Chris Medland on what it takes to win
Few people understand the rhythm of Formula 1® quite like Chris Medland. Having covered the sport for RACER, Motor Sport Magazine, and Formula1.com, he has seen how teams operate under pressure and how the unseen efforts of thousands of specialists propel drivers at every performance.
Small things make the difference when teams are looking for the edge,” Medland says. “It’s not just the hardware or the partnerships, it’s the people and the way they work together.”
That edge comes from the chemistry between driver and team, a connection built on communication, trust, and clarity. Medland has seen how teams can transform when designers, engineers, analysts, and mechanics all work in harmony.
The same rhythm that keeps a pit stop under two seconds keeps communication and collaboration in motion. The better a team communicates, the faster it moves.
“From the moment Red Bull entered the sport, they wanted to do it differently. They wanted to be disruptors, they wanted to be energetic, but as a team becomes successful, all of the focus goes into winning and continuing to win,” says Medland.
Incremental gains in teamwork compound into on-track performance.
Oracle Red Bull Racing is a distributed enterprise with specialists operating across continents. Designers, analysts, and engineers rely on trusted access between the control center and the pit wall. Every department depends on the certainty that the right person can reach the right system at the right time.
That visibility is what keeps the operation fluid when the pressure spikes.
Where secure access meets performance
The 1Password browser extension simplifies logins and strengthens security, allowing Oracle Red Bull Racing engineers to conduct quicker CFD iterations so ideas reach the car sooner.
Max Verstappen performs under pressure
Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula 1® Driver and 4X F1 World Champion Max Verstappen makes speed look easy, but behind every lap is an intricate dialogue between driver, engineers, and machine. His success depends on a constant feedback loop, a conversation that continues long after the checkered flag.
We work as a team. You know, as a driver, that in the background, a lot of people are depending on your results, but I’m also depending on them to get the results, so that takes the pressure off.”
Representing thousands of people back at MK7, Verstappen channels both expectations and information. Every race is an orchestration of inputs, strategy, telemetry, and driver instincts.
In a sport where performance is measured in thousandths of a second, information must move as fast as the car itself. Verstappen describes a process of constant dialogue: data coming in, driver feedback going out, and engineers optimizing the team’s strategy.
It’s a continuous loop of refinement. Engineers equip Verstappen with models and predictions in the simulator, and on the track, he returns with sensory insights, the subtleties of grip, wind, and balance that data can’t capture.
Together, they merge machine analytics with human judgment, improving performance one lap at a time. This layer of trust turns complexity into clarity.
The shared ownership extends across the whole organization, from design and aerodynamics to data analysis.
“Every team wants to design the fastest car, and a driver gives their inputs on what you need to go even faster,” Verstappen says. “And that’s what we’ve always done as a team.”
Even at 200 mph, his job isn’t just to drive but to think, to collect and interpret information for the next debrief.
That’s the difference between a good driver and a really good driver. A lot of people can do fast laps; that’s the least hard thing to do. It’s when the pressure is on to perform, to have the extra capacity while driving to think about feedback for the engineering team.”
The exchange never stops, before, during, or after a race. Every lap generates new data, and every debrief turns it into progress. And adaptability sits at the center of it all.
At the end of the day, you need to be very quick in adapting to new situations.”
That ability to adapt, to process new information instantly and respond without hesitation, is crucial for both racing and cybersecurity. In the same way, Max relies on a continuous flow of accurate feedback; Oracle Red Bull Racing’s digital systems rely on secure, trusted access that keeps teams moving without friction.
This is the real art of Oracle Red Bull Racing: innovation at speed and the ability to evolve are what keep them ahead.
Yuki Tsunoda on communication and growth
Yuki Tsunoda’s path with Oracle Red Bull Racing is one of constant improvement.
His easy openness, focus on collaboration, and willingness to learn have made him one of the most relatable talents on the grid.
This is a team sport, not an individual sport. Without every single department, I wouldn’t be able to perform.”
Tsunoda’s mindset on growth is striking. He approaches his work as an ongoing exchange between driver and engineer, intuition and data, individual instinct and collective purpose.
Inside the simulator, he spends hours refining setups for each circuit, pushing the car and himself to new limits. Each run feeds the feedback loops that shape car development and race strategy. His communication is both technical and intuitive, bridging what the data shows and what the driver feels.
For Tsunoda, improvement often comes down to how clearly ideas are communicated through the team and how data can inform that dialogue. Engineers listen; Yuki listens back. Together, they refine the car’s behavior in real time.
He’s also aware of the security required to maintain that trust.
Protecting our information is very important. It’s like protecting your baby. We win together, we lose together.”
From mechanics handling parts to analysts processing gigabytes of race data, every person in the paddock contributes to that protection. At Oracle Red Bull Racing, trust and access allow people to move fast.
Tsunoda’s composure reflects a growing maturity. He’s candid about what he doesn’t know and eager to learn from those who do, including his teammate.
"The most important thing is to be open-minded and learn as much as possible," he says. "At the same time, support the team and get as many points as possible.”
That thoughtfulness is the key to his evolution. Progress is a constant process of feedback, refinement, and application. His growth embodies what makes Oracle Red Bull Racing formidable: a culture where feedback fuels growth, trust fuels speed, and progress never stops.
Identity security that keeps pace
What Max and Yuki achieve on the track depends on thousands of invisible systems working in harmony.
Only 60 team members travel to each race, but more than a thousand others contribute from MK7, designing parts, running simulations, managing logistics, and safeguarding data.
Behind that precision is a digital infrastructure built for speed and trust.
With 1Password Enterprise Password Manager, Oracle Red Bull Racing manages credentials and access for over 1,800 employees across ten global sites, ensuring operations are fast, auditable, and secure.
Developers protect credentials and accelerate workflows in complex environments like the 19-step CFD and wind-tunnel simulations that transform new ideas into car performance. Meanwhile, Trelica by 1Password will help the team manage SaaS usage and spending, uncovering underused licenses and duplicate tools, with savings reinvested directly into car development under cost-cap regulations.
These aren’t just IT improvements; they’re streamlined identity security processes that reduce risk, strengthen security posture, and free up resources to fuel innovation.
When everything connects, people, technology, and trust, speed follows naturally.
The race never ends
For Oracle Red Bull Racing, the unseen race for security never stops. Every safeguard, every secret, and every split-second decision counts, from MK7 to Monaco, from the control room to the cockpit.
This season, Securing the Win has revealed the people behind the performance: engineers refining workflows, leaders shaping culture, and drivers turning information into instinct.
The finale brings it full circle: protecting performance on the track starts with protecting the access, identity, and trust that make every decision possible. Whether it’s a driver adapting to conditions or an engineer accessing critical data, speed only exists when security keeps up.
Because in Formula 1®, secrets define success.
In cybersecurity, security and speed keep you ahead.
Oracle Red Bull Racing balances speed and security with 1Password
Read the case study to see how Oracle Red Bull Racing protects its competitive edge with 1Password.
