Max Verstappen ally Daniel Juncadella has claimed that the Red Bull star would be ‘more human’ if he fought Kimi Antonelli for an F1 title.

The four-time world champion has become renowned for his robot-like skill set at the wheel of an F1 car through the inch-perfect exploits he has shown throughout his 12-year career so far in the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport.

With that comes an unwavering sense of competitiveness, with fans sometimes seeing Verstappen overstep the line when in wheel-to-wheel combat with his rivals.

Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen have scored the most points since round 7/23 in Barcelona 🌟 How will the drivers' standings finish?

A clear case of this is through the Dutchman’s battles with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris over the years.

However, Daniel Juncadella, who shared a Mercedes-AMG GT3 car with Verstappen at this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours, thinks a different side of him would be present in a title fight with F1’s current champion-elect: Kimi Antonelli.

Daniel Juncadella thinks Max Verstappen would be ‘more human’ in a title fight against Kimi Antonelli

During a recent interview with Mundo Deportivo, the Spanish touring car driver spoke at length about his admiration of Verstappen’s talents, likening him to one of the best football players to ever grace the game: Lionel Messi.

On top of that, Juncadella also highlighted just how scary the Dutchman can be when he’s pitted against someone, akin to how Zak Brown once described Verstappen as Chucky in reference to Hollywood’s notorious serial killer.

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However, he firmly believes fans would be treated to a different side of the four-time world champion if his main rival was Antonelli, given the friendship that the pair of highly ambitious drivers share.

“It’s just what I’d have liked to see,” he said after being asked what would happen in a hypothetical battle between the Italian and the Red Bull star.

“I think Norris would crumble in a head-to-head battle against Verstappen. The other one gets too aggressive with him because he’s got under his skin a bit – which is pretty much what Verstappen always does with his rivals.

“He gets too aggressive and puts them in a situation where they back down.

“With Antonelli, I don’t know what would happen, because the truth is they have a very good relationship, so I don’t know if we’d see a slightly more human side to Verstappen there and he wouldn’t make certain moves that he’s made with others,” he concluded.

With the progress Red Bull have made in regard to the pace of their 2026 challenger as this year has ensued, they could very well be the biggest candidates to spoil Mercedes’ title-defending party next season.

Verstappen is also in fine form at the moment, which could potentially see him delay Antonelli’s crowning this year by at least a few more races. The Italian can secure the title this weekend in Texas, but needs a couple of results to go his way in order to get the job done.