Max Verstappen flies into Melbourne on his new $90million private jet before being left disgusted by a food Aussies love
Max Verstappen, the three-time Formula 1 World Champion, has made a stylish entrance into Melbourne, arriving aboard his brand-new $79 million private jet ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. The Dutch racing superstar touched down in the Victorian capital on Tuesday, looking to kick off the 2025 racing season in winning fashion.
Verstappen’s sleek private jet is a 2022 Dassault Falcon 8X, which he recently purchased after buying a luxury superyacht. The registration on the plane is PH-UTL, with UTL believed to stand for “Unleash The Lion.” The jet, which costs an eye-watering $79 million, has been painted in Verstappen’s signature colors. According to the manufacturer of the aircraft, the Falcon 8X has a range of just under 12,000 km and a “Digital Flight Control System derived from the Rafale,” referring to the company’s state-of-the-art jet fighter.
However, Verstappen’s Australian adventure got off to a less-than-impressive start on Wednesday morning when he tried Vegemite for the first time. Instead of spreading it on toast with butter, like most locals do, he took a spoonful into his mouth. His reaction was immediate and decisive: “I really hate it,” he remarked with a disgusted expression on his face.
The Australian Grand Prix is the season-opening race for the first time since 2019, meaning there’ll be extra interest from F1 fans who are desperate to see how their team’s car stacks up after preseason testing in Bahrain. Verstappen, who clinched victory in Australia in 2023 and finished second in 2024, will be aiming to assert early dominance. However, Red Bull had mixed form in Bahrain, and he’s not confident they will be anywhere near as dominant as they were at the start of last season.
With multiple drivers threatening to dethrone Verstappen from his perch, the Dutchman has expressed concerns over how competitive Red Bull can be after their car’s performance fell away badly in the last half of the 2024 season. “I don’t think we can fight for the win already in Melbourne,” the Dutchman said, according to (link unavailable) Despite that, he believes that the car can be finely tuned to perform better in Melbourne than it should in subsequent races at tracks that don’t suit its strengths as much.
“Everything (on the car) can be set up a little bit better in Melbourne than in Bahrain,” he added. While the 27-year-old picked up his fourth-consecutive world title last season, Lando Norris is now widely being backed to end his reign of dominance. Verstappen agrees with those claims. When pressed on who could compete for the title this season, he added: “At the moment, there’s only one, and that team is orange. That’s a very nice color, of course, but from our side, we still have work to do.”
Other teams want to see some improvements as well, I think, so at the moment, one team is clearly in front. “If you look at the lap times from testing, then I think McLaren is the favorite.” On our side, not everything went completely smoothly, but on the other hand, we have some ideas on how to improve. With the Australian Grand Prix just around the corner, all eyes will be on Verstappen and Red Bull as they look to defend their title and start the season on a high note.
