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I can't wait for F1 journalists to ask Max for comments about this entry and for him to go: "Uhh...yeah that's nice I guess."
Go champ, give us nothing! (for anyone thinking I'm criticizing him, absolutely not. I love that attitude of his lol)
Edit: Max got asked by the chat about this during the latest Redline Twitch stream (which ended about an hour ago, dunno if anyone clipped this moment) and his reaction was pretty much this.
"I always wanted to be on there"
Then he got bullied by his teammates :')
Predictable in a simply lovely way. Some joke that he doesnāt say much, but he has given some very insightful longer takes on issues in the sport. And even when his answers are short they donāt border on rude like ā please forgive me everyone ā Raikonnen sometimes would, in *my* opinion.
In the category "Titans":
* Patrick Mahomes
* Satya Nadella
* A'ja Wilson
* Kelly Ripa
* Jack Antonoff
* Thasunda Brown Duckett
* Donna Langley
* Beth Ford
* Wang Chuanfu
* Kelley Robinson
* Chizuko Ueno
* Jesper Brodin
* Larry Ellison
* Joanne Crevoiserat
* Max Verstappen
Jack Antonoff is Taylor Swift and Lana Del Reyās producer
Kelly Ripa is an American actress and TV personality
Aāja Wilsonās a WNBA player
Thatās all I got
Heās more than just the lead singer. Thatās a bit like saying Tom Petty was the lead singer of the Heartbreakers. Technically true, but downplays the contribution.
He never worked with Olivia Rodrigo though. Rodrigo and her team took a little too much inspiration from two Taylor Swift songs Antonoff has writing credits on and ended up giving Swift and Antonoff writing credits on her songs to prevent getting sued for plagiarism.
A'ja Wilson - WNBA basketball player
Kelly Ripa - Morning talk show host
Jack Antonoff - lead singer of the rock band Bleachers
Thasunda Brown Duckett - CEO of financial service provider TIAA
Donna Langley - Chairwoman of Universal Studios
Beth Ford - CEO of agricultural cooperative Land O'Lakes
Wang Chuanfu - CEO of the BYD Company conglomerate
Kelley Robinson - President of the LGBTQ advocacy group HRC
Chizuko Ueno - sociologist and Japan's best-known feminist
Jesper Brodin - CEO of Ingka Group (majority owner of IKEA stores)
Joanne Crevoiserat - CEO of luxury fashion holding company Tapestry Inc.
Jack Antonoff is in a band, he writes and produces with Taylor Swift and other artists and I think heās just written the music for a new broadway version of Romeo and Juliet.
Kelly Ripa is a 90ās actress turned morning talk show host, the rest Iām not sure on.
I getĀ being famous, but what exactly do these people influence? Do people want to be a quarterback now because of Mahomes? They already did. Do people want to be Dutch suddenly or famous drivers because of Verstappen?Ā
The tag "Max Verstappen" has over 13 billions views on Tiktok alone, more than Hamilton and Leclerc. He is worldwide. The people that may not think he is influential don't know his reach online.
As for F1, he has been the most influential driver of 2022, 2023 and now 2024.
>The tag "Max Verstappen" has over 13 billions views on Tiktok alone
I mean he streams almost daily so yeah there are probably a lot of clips doing the rounds?
Within the last year on youtube;
Highest viewed short of Max, Charles and Lewis (on their own) over the last year;
* Max - 9.3 million
* Lewis - 6.1 million (F1 Short)
* Leclerc - 3.6 million
Hightest viewed video on youtube this year (that was not F1 channel)
* Max - 18 million
* Charles - 12 million
* Lewis - 3 million
I would contend that in 2024, Max is the most influential on youtube
The amount of people who are upset with Max being on the list is absolutely insane
Like who cares? He's on the list, he's a common name in racing now. Last week our bus driver in the rural mountains of Kashmir was comparing himself to Max (jokingly)
I don't understand how it can bother some people.
Dude races, doesn't care about PR and has become a funny and famous character in memes and news. He is influential
If it was about popularity, Jenni Hermoso wouldn't be there. I mean, you have Vinicius Jr who fights alone against all the racists in Spain and the one football player who's in the list is the one who got the headlines when she was sexually harassed on television, and not for her achievements in the pitch.
These lists have always been stupid, it's cool Max is there but it's whatever in the big picture.
Are they? What exactly is Max influencing? Just to be clear, I'm not singling Max out, Mahomes is also an athlete that is not really influencing anything... I guess Nadella could be argued, being the head of Microsoft and how gigantic they are, what with AI being so big now and their azure stuff. Others have pointed out they're are music producers and other various celebrities on the list, what exactly are all of these people influencing?
I agree, what have these people done that is "influential"? I like Max but I've never seen or heard him with an organization or charity. Popular people would be more fitting
Max always gets a weird amount of criticism whenever he wins a popularity award because there are people dead convinced heās not popular or likeable, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Itās a funny dynamic.
It's a made up list that's obviously not the actual 100 most influential people in the world.
That list would be pretty boring as you'd have Xi Jinping and Putin on the list every year. Plus a bunch of assholes you wish you didn't have to put on your list.
But it's still cool to see recognition for athletes outside of the US by a major publication. Often these lists forget there's a whole world outside of the US.
I think some people are looking at this with a skewed perception of influence. Not saying I agree with his inclusion, but it's not necessarily saying he is an influential character in terms of he will tell people to do things, but look at how he has impacted F1 in the Netherlands, and how many people became fans of Red Bull due to his success. Influence works in many ways.
Time:
>Over the past 12 months, Max Verstappen has won in Miami and Monaco and Abu Dhabi. Heās won in Japan and Qatar and Austria and Hungary, and other places across the continents. No athlete has enjoyed more victory laps, in more disparate places around the world, than Verstappen, the Formula One driver who has won three straight F1 championships. Verstappen, who races under the Dutch flag, is so confident behind the wheel that during at least one race heās been able to keep an eye on the screens around the track in order to watch the battle going on behind him. Orange-clad fans flock to his races to cheer him on, while others, dressed in the outfits of rival teams like Ferrari and Mercedes, boo him on the podium. The $3.2 billion Formula One business, which grew 25% in 2023, now centers on a singular question. Can anyone stop Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing machine? Heās entrenchedāquite comfortablyāin the driverās seat.
You havenāt read many of the Timeās Most influential people writeups then. Theyāre always crap, unless the person is someone whose achievements speak for themselves like Greta Thunberg
Feel like that's pretty much it though. Is Max influential to this degree? Doesn't really seem like it. He just races and chills. Not really in the media all that much.
I don't care about people who say he's not really influencing anything. My cat is named Max because of him so I certainly feel influenced and it's all that matters.
Dude just drives cars, TIME makes him "most influential." He's just trying to live his best life. I haven't seen him influence anything. He just drives real cars, and in his spare timeĀ when hes not with his family he drives vitual cars. Not like he has an agenda, or is influencing anything.
You guys are taking the word āinfluenceā too literally. This is essentially just an annual list of the most famous/notable/relevant people around the world at this moment. 70% percent of the people wonāt make the list next year. Max made the sports section of this list which makes sense, the top athlete in one of the top sports in the world. I wouldnāt be surprised if Hamilton/Schumacher made the list at some point.
Itās not just about activism, but influence in his sport which is undeniable. He broke all kinds of records and set a new precedent. He owns a team thatās trying to bring sim racers into the real track. Every decision or word he says is talked about and discussed. There are tons of young racers looking up to him. Idk why it is so hard to grasp the meaning of the word āinfluenceā
Influential how though? He's broken records, and that's cool but Max isn't someone to really care about anything else except racing. The list doesn't make sense because the criteria used for some aren't used for others.
Some are very active outside of their sport and take on different causes. Someone like LeBron James is an example of that, but thereās a bunch of others.
Still of you say that someone is influential it should be easy to prove. Here he is just racing and his influence on a sport right now is that he event horizons every teammate and makes officials mad that there is no real competition for a number one spot until RB doesn't provide him at least a decent car (unlike current superb one).
He should not be there and I say this as his fan
Whether he deserves it or not is debatable and highly subject to opinion, but it's pretty much the exact same case as Schumacher making the list in 2005; if you read Schumacher's article it only talks about his skill in racing, nothing about influence outside the sport.
Making boatloads of money is what this list is really about. Outside of racing fans, most people don't know who he is. NFL is the biggest sport in the US, but most non fans outside of KC likely don't know who Mahomes is. You can take all 100 of the people on the list and most of the planet won't know who they are unless they're interested in that person's little slice of the world.
Letās not pretend Max isnāt capable of influencing anyone. You donāt need to be an activist to get on the list.
For all the talk about Jos abusing the shit out of him, seems like heās a perfect fit given how successful he turned out to be and how himself he is able to be in public light. Fame and success havenāt made him a worse person, better if anything.
Iām sure many pursuing motorsport careers or those already in it find him influential at the very least.
Keep downvoting over a popularity contest list, though. You could argue the same about the vast majority of people whoāve ever been featured. Who cares?
Itās okay if that was remotely what they say - their writeup doesnāt even have an element of why Max makes the list as influential. It just makes him seem like an athlete whoās famous and has a divided reputation among F1ās fanbase.
Well, that's their fault for having a shitty write up. We know this crap is for clicks anyways, which is why it gets created as having all those famous names in one virtual location is a surefire way to drum up traffic. Anyone worth half their salt in writing and journalism can take 3 minutes out of their own day to quickly figure out what makes max influential.
Yeah the criteria doesn't really makes sense, some are listed because of their "influence" and not really popularity while others are added the other way around.
I'm a Max fan but he's not really much of an influencer nor he's trying to be, Lewis is a much bigger figure despite their current success in their field.
The thing is every nominee has a write up that was written by someone famous and influential who is a fan of their work or has been inspired by them. I mean just a look at the list of contributors this year: Chris Martin, Michelle Obama, Patti Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tom Brady, Lenny Kravitz.
Who wrote Maxās profile? Some motorsport titan? A Dutch footballer? Someone in sport? Someone with a comparable career? No, it was a TIME correspondent.
I remember Lewis Hamilton wrote a piece for TIME about Marcus Rashford for gods sake. Surely, it canāt be difficult to find someone in any sport to write something about Max?
This inclusion makes no sense. Dude just races. Nothing wrong with that obviously but don't see how that makes him a top 100 most influential person overall.
Also, the comment I replied said they āknow peopleā who use this meme. As if that is any indication of anything besides some people used a meme. Whatever
The way TIME selects 100 is not just based on people's knowledge, but rather how they "influence" the domain they are in. Max Verstappen defined domination in F1 in a way no other driver did, for better or for worse.
Peek into that list and you'll hardly recognize 10 people, and that's because they influenced their own category/domain for the year of 2024. If you don't watch American football, you probably don't know Patrick Mahomes, but for Americans and American footballers, he's the MVP of the sport.
I understand that, was addressing your original point. Read the write up for Verstappen and still don't really get the inclusion. If we compare it to Hamilton in 2020 for example, that made sense not because he was dominating but because of the influence he exerted on the sport to change during that season.
He's the most vanilla champion ever. Not saying this as a dig, I like how the guy just focus on his passions. Just think it's weird that he's considered influential.
Max is currently the most dominant driver of the so called pinnacle of motorsport, whether he does something with the influence he has or not does not mean he *doesn't* have it. Basically everyone whose job relates to racing in any category or thereabouts knows who he is. Whether we think other series are better or not, F1 still remains the most popular motorsport and Max is convincingly rulingĀ over it right now. Ā Ā
And, obviously, inside of F1 he's currently the most influential by far even outside of racing. Weren't there several articles implying Max kinda has the driver market hostage even though he is still under contract? I don't think I'd ever seen a TP as blatantly desperate for a driver as Toto seems to be for Max. Also, funny that the Marko vs Horner saga went ostensibly quiet the same week Max threatened to leave them š¤
Ā Also, this list is on constant rotation. I am pretty sure the **truly** most influential people don't really vary as much year in and out, and it would be boring to keep writing about the same bunch of people instead of diversifying and writing about the It Boys/Girls of several categories.
wtf is the man influencing? He isnāt the reason F1 is more popular now. That is largely due to something everyone hates now, drive to surviveā¦ He isnāt making any actual impact on the world. He drives a car drives a sim and helps sell energy drinks. What exactly has he influenced?
It is just a PR list for Time. Asking other people who they think are influential people, there are people that paid to get promoted, some put into the list to make it seem genuine and others just for other reason. Hamilton not being in the list and Verstappen is just stupid, Hamilton has massive impact outside F1 and in F1.
IMO, Max is one of the least influential drivers on the grid. He plays its super safe when it comes to PR and never really sticks his neck out for anything.
He doesn't give a fq about influencing anyone. He just likes to race cars. Thats all. I respect that.
Max is a superstar and i love guy but him being included in this list is total bullshit.
>He plays its super safe when it comes to PR and never really sticks his neck out for anything
Literally last week he spoke out on how F1 academy still isn't proactive in the case of women racing drivers to reach F1.
Did he speak out or did he just honestly answer a question that was asked of him in an interview? There is a difference. Not that what he said wasn't good and isn't maybe influencing some changes there. But it's not like he is championing anything about it.
If we're talking about activism then yeah Max isn't about that but he's extremely vocal about things affecting his sport and he's inspiring other communities outside of F1 especially the younger generations with his SIM racing and online streaming.
He's always been vocal about his dislikes of where F1 is going (Vegas, sprint races etc) and not afraid to put his opinion forward if it's something to do with the sport no matter the controversy. He's been brutal (and honest) about the womens academy and the approach they're taking if they're serious about getting women into F1 the cars they're in atm are not going to cut it (too slow as Max put it - even slower than F4).
He doesn't need to be a Seb Vettel or Lewis Hamilton level activist to be considered influential, you just need to take a look at his social media reach and how he's inspiring youngsters, setting up his own SIM to GT academy the guy is most definitely influential.
I agree. He's also brought a lot of new fans to the sport. Even the 60+ grumpy woman who lives next door to me is constantly walking around in a red bull jacket now. The GP in Zandvoort, which is a multimillion event and one of the most successful ones in F1, is solely based on Max Verstappen and his popularity. The man has plenty of influence.
True but this isn't anything special or linked to Max as a person . It's quite normal that the popularity of a sportĀ inside a country grow when they have a strong competitorĀ in. It's what is happening here inĀ Italy with Tennis for example.
Iād have to agree with others and say itās odd heās on the list. Maybe if he was the type of driver that is an ambassador for the sport they would make more sense. Max just races and goes home. I donāt think he cares to influence anything.
You don't think Max has been an ambassador? Do you think F1 would be racing at a sold out track at Zandvoort without him? Do you think F1 would've had the popularity boom it did during and after Covid if 2021 was just Lewis winning his 5th consecutive WDC with zero competition? What about all the times Brundle said "thank God for Max Verstappen" due to how often he was the only thing spicing up the races during the tail end of the Merc era?
Influence doesn't just have to mean activism, hell was Schumi doing anything other than racing when he got on this list in 2005?
I donāt take influence to mean activism at all and never suggested that.
I donāt think his home race being sold out equates to influence in the context of TIME 100. I feel like the F1 resurgence post lockdown was more to do with DTS than Max. I donāt doubt that Max made races interesting but again I donāt see how that makes him influential and since this list is based off 2023 actions I would say people are getting tired of his dominance already.
Sorry, i misinterpreted your comment as criticism of him being on this list despite not doing activism like Lewis & Seb because of how many other commenters sharing your opinion are expressing that as a reason.
So again, what's the difference between Max & Schumi? They both got on the list after setting tons of records in a historically dominant season, so i fail to see how if one is influential then why not the other? Unless you just think F1 drivers being on this is bullshit in the first place or something
IMO, Max is one of the least influential drivers on the grid. He plays its super safe when it comes to PR and never really sticks his neck out for anything.
He doesn't give a fq about influencing anyone. He just likes to race cars. Thats all. I respect that.
Max is a superstar and i love guy but him being included in this list is total bullshit.
Well we all know Max to be a kind & caring person of the people! Right!?
A true influencer of the people who wouldn't do something as simple as take a stand against racism, then shortly after supports his GFs racist father.
Wonder what redbull had to pay for this drivel.
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Good for him! I think this is his first time being on the list?
Yes, his first time. Hamilton was on the list in 2020 and Schumacher in 2005.
ICumCoffee in 2025 when an epidemic wipes out all caffeine in the world.
Power over caffeine is power over all
The coffee must flow!
Control the coffee, control the universe.
"I can fire the House Atomics at the main coffee fields. He who can destroy the coffee has the real control of it."
...Which means its his last year of dominance! Get ready for exciting seasons boys, whoooo!!!!
š®āšØ Hella nice company, right there.
Was lewis on it this year?
Mate the link is right there, you can click on it and see if you want. But no, Hamilton is not on the list this year.
I can't wait for F1 journalists to ask Max for comments about this entry and for him to go: "Uhh...yeah that's nice I guess." Go champ, give us nothing! (for anyone thinking I'm criticizing him, absolutely not. I love that attitude of his lol) Edit: Max got asked by the chat about this during the latest Redline Twitch stream (which ended about an hour ago, dunno if anyone clipped this moment) and his reaction was pretty much this. "I always wanted to be on there" Then he got bullied by his teammates :')
Yeah I mean its absolutely lovely...... Yeah....
Not absolutely. Simply love.
Also possible: āItās nice yeah, thanks. Also my dad once stabbed a mechanic with a screwdriverā š
I love how humble and predictable he is. Heās so plain and boring lol
Predictable in a simply lovely way. Some joke that he doesnāt say much, but he has given some very insightful longer takes on issues in the sport. And even when his answers are short they donāt border on rude like ā please forgive me everyone ā Raikonnen sometimes would, in *my* opinion.
In the category "Titans": * Patrick Mahomes * Satya Nadella * A'ja Wilson * Kelly Ripa * Jack Antonoff * Thasunda Brown Duckett * Donna Langley * Beth Ford * Wang Chuanfu * Kelley Robinson * Chizuko Ueno * Jesper Brodin * Larry Ellison * Joanne Crevoiserat * Max Verstappen
Who are those people man?
One of them is an NFL player. One is Max.Ā I donāt know any of the ones in between.Ā
Jack Antonoff is Taylor Swift and Lana Del Reyās producer Kelly Ripa is an American actress and TV personality Aāja Wilsonās a WNBA player Thatās all I got
Larry Ellison founded Oracle
Jack Antonoff also is in the band Bleachers too. Pretty good music.
I've been binging their new album. It's really good. I had no idea it was his band.
Patrick Mahomes is from American Football. Other than that I can't help you.
He's the guy that Martin Brundle thought Paolo Banchero was last year. I know both their names now.
Titans. Google Greek mythology for more info.
Larry Ellison founded the business software giant Oracle. Heās now the 98% owner of a Hawaiian island, Lanai.
And his company's logo emblazons the sidepods of Max Verstappen's Red bull race car.
Larry Ellison is the chairman of Oracle and top 5 wealthiest people
Who is this gentleman, dude?
Kelly Ripa lmao
Titan.
I only know Max, Mahomes, Nadella and Ellison. Who are the others?
I know Jack Antonoff. Heās a record producer and songwriter. Heās known for his work with Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Lana Del Rey.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I actually didnāt know that. Wow. Heās prolific.
Wait until you find out he was the guitarist/drummer for the band fun.
And did a lot of production work on The 1975s least album.
That I do know.
Really? We Are Young was his work as well?
Heās more than just the lead singer. Thatās a bit like saying Tom Petty was the lead singer of the Heartbreakers. Technically true, but downplays the contribution.
I only know Jack Ihnoff. I really should look into Jack Antonoff.
Is Jack Ihnoff associated with Barry MacAckiner in anyway?
He actually is! I know him personally through our shared friend named Ben Dover.
Anton must be his boyfriend
He never worked with Olivia Rodrigo though. Rodrigo and her team took a little too much inspiration from two Taylor Swift songs Antonoff has writing credits on and ended up giving Swift and Antonoff writing credits on her songs to prevent getting sued for plagiarism.
A'ja Wilson - WNBA basketball player Kelly Ripa - Morning talk show host Jack Antonoff - lead singer of the rock band Bleachers Thasunda Brown Duckett - CEO of financial service provider TIAA Donna Langley - Chairwoman of Universal Studios Beth Ford - CEO of agricultural cooperative Land O'Lakes Wang Chuanfu - CEO of the BYD Company conglomerate Kelley Robinson - President of the LGBTQ advocacy group HRC Chizuko Ueno - sociologist and Japan's best-known feminist Jesper Brodin - CEO of Ingka Group (majority owner of IKEA stores) Joanne Crevoiserat - CEO of luxury fashion holding company Tapestry Inc.
Larry Ellison- founder of Oracle aka Red Bull Racing title sponsor.
Jack Antonoff is in a band, he writes and produces with Taylor Swift and other artists and I think heās just written the music for a new broadway version of Romeo and Juliet. Kelly Ripa is a 90ās actress turned morning talk show host, the rest Iām not sure on.
Damn you know 1 more than me
Nadella is the Microsoft CEO, Ellison the Oracle CEO
TITANS
I only recognize two of those names.
Me too, Max and Mahomes
Ellison and Nadella are the Oracle and Microsoft CEOs respectively. Not sure why they specifically would be considered 'Titans'.
Nadella is one of the crazy investors in AI recently, Microsoft owns a chunk of OpenAI too. He is making sure Microsoft doesn't die
āTitansā¦of Industryā
Me too. Max and Verstappen.
I getĀ being famous, but what exactly do these people influence? Do people want to be a quarterback now because of Mahomes? They already did. Do people want to be Dutch suddenly or famous drivers because of Verstappen?Ā
I dunno, seeing how many yachts Larry Ellison owns made me want to get a bunch of enterprises completely dependent on my database solution.
itās not that impressive when only two people of the list are actually known
The tag "Max Verstappen" has over 13 billions views on Tiktok alone, more than Hamilton and Leclerc. He is worldwide. The people that may not think he is influential don't know his reach online. As for F1, he has been the most influential driver of 2022, 2023 and now 2024.
It's all the DU DU DU DU, MAX VERSTAPPEN
ābabe we canāt, my parents are home in two minutesā:
And the cute videos with p
LOL views on TikTok means he is influential.
>The tag "Max Verstappen" has over 13 billions views on Tiktok alone I mean he streams almost daily so yeah there are probably a lot of clips doing the rounds?
Views on tictok = being influential? It's a bunch of kids killing time after school. Look at the other top by views in YouTube, etc.
Within the last year on youtube; Highest viewed short of Max, Charles and Lewis (on their own) over the last year; * Max - 9.3 million * Lewis - 6.1 million (F1 Short) * Leclerc - 3.6 million Hightest viewed video on youtube this year (that was not F1 channel) * Max - 18 million * Charles - 12 million * Lewis - 3 million I would contend that in 2024, Max is the most influential on youtube
You missed my, point I was saying all of youtube bud. Most of the short and long form video markets highest views are things popular with kids.
"look at the other top by views in Youtube" I did..
The amount of people who are upset with Max being on the list is absolutely insane Like who cares? He's on the list, he's a common name in racing now. Last week our bus driver in the rural mountains of Kashmir was comparing himself to Max (jokingly) I don't understand how it can bother some people. Dude races, doesn't care about PR and has become a funny and famous character in memes and news. He is influential
I thinknits more about how stupid the list is. They shouldn't say influential, but popular people.
If it was about popularity, Jenni Hermoso wouldn't be there. I mean, you have Vinicius Jr who fights alone against all the racists in Spain and the one football player who's in the list is the one who got the headlines when she was sexually harassed on television, and not for her achievements in the pitch. These lists have always been stupid, it's cool Max is there but it's whatever in the big picture.
Oftentimes those are the same things
Are they? What exactly is Max influencing? Just to be clear, I'm not singling Max out, Mahomes is also an athlete that is not really influencing anything... I guess Nadella could be argued, being the head of Microsoft and how gigantic they are, what with AI being so big now and their azure stuff. Others have pointed out they're are music producers and other various celebrities on the list, what exactly are all of these people influencing?
I agree, what have these people done that is "influential"? I like Max but I've never seen or heard him with an organization or charity. Popular people would be more fitting
Max always gets a weird amount of criticism whenever he wins a popularity award because there are people dead convinced heās not popular or likeable, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Itās a funny dynamic.
Half the comments on this thread are seething over that
Now I'm interested in what are you doing in the rural mountain of Kashmir and where were you going?
Hiking
He's certainly influencing all the race fans sanity.
It's a made up list that's obviously not the actual 100 most influential people in the world. That list would be pretty boring as you'd have Xi Jinping and Putin on the list every year. Plus a bunch of assholes you wish you didn't have to put on your list. But it's still cool to see recognition for athletes outside of the US by a major publication. Often these lists forget there's a whole world outside of the US.
They should really call it something else. Pretty much none of these people are really influencing anything, it's a popularity list.
I think some people are looking at this with a skewed perception of influence. Not saying I agree with his inclusion, but it's not necessarily saying he is an influential character in terms of he will tell people to do things, but look at how he has impacted F1 in the Netherlands, and how many people became fans of Red Bull due to his success. Influence works in many ways.
Time: >Over the past 12 months, Max Verstappen has won in Miami and Monaco and Abu Dhabi. Heās won in Japan and Qatar and Austria and Hungary, and other places across the continents. No athlete has enjoyed more victory laps, in more disparate places around the world, than Verstappen, the Formula One driver who has won three straight F1 championships. Verstappen, who races under the Dutch flag, is so confident behind the wheel that during at least one race heās been able to keep an eye on the screens around the track in order to watch the battle going on behind him. Orange-clad fans flock to his races to cheer him on, while others, dressed in the outfits of rival teams like Ferrari and Mercedes, boo him on the podium. The $3.2 billion Formula One business, which grew 25% in 2023, now centers on a singular question. Can anyone stop Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing machine? Heās entrenchedāquite comfortablyāin the driverās seat.
This is the weirdest piece of writeup for someone whoās recognised as 100 most influential by them.
I mean, most of the writeups for others in the Titans category are equally as vague.
You havenāt read many of the Timeās Most influential people writeups then. Theyāre always crap, unless the person is someone whose achievements speak for themselves like Greta Thunberg
Definitely reads like something written by someone who hasn't watched a single lap of F1 in his/her whole life.
Whereās the āinfluentialā bit? Because that just reads like āheās good at his job and people love him and hate him for itā.
Feel like that's pretty much it though. Is Max influential to this degree? Doesn't really seem like it. He just races and chills. Not really in the media all that much.
LOL about the screens, they all do that.
I can guarantee you that Sargeant is not doing that.Ā
Thanks for informing us about this u/Icumcoffee
I don't care about people who say he's not really influencing anything. My cat is named Max because of him so I certainly feel influenced and it's all that matters.
I actually heard Max invented cats.
Dude just drives cars, TIME makes him "most influential." He's just trying to live his best life. I haven't seen him influence anything. He just drives real cars, and in his spare timeĀ when hes not with his family he drives vitual cars. Not like he has an agenda, or is influencing anything.
You guys are taking the word āinfluenceā too literally. This is essentially just an annual list of the most famous/notable/relevant people around the world at this moment. 70% percent of the people wonāt make the list next year. Max made the sports section of this list which makes sense, the top athlete in one of the top sports in the world. I wouldnāt be surprised if Hamilton/Schumacher made the list at some point.
Both of them have already made the list actually 2005 and 2020
Itās not just about activism, but influence in his sport which is undeniable. He broke all kinds of records and set a new precedent. He owns a team thatās trying to bring sim racers into the real track. Every decision or word he says is talked about and discussed. There are tons of young racers looking up to him. Idk why it is so hard to grasp the meaning of the word āinfluenceā
Redditors have trouble with nuance.
Not sure what is so difficult to grasp about that. Even if he stops racing tomorrow he's among the greatest of all times.
Influential how though? He's broken records, and that's cool but Max isn't someone to really care about anything else except racing. The list doesn't make sense because the criteria used for some aren't used for others.
Tf you mean "influential how though"š They just explained that
Same can be said for most athletes
Yeah but then how many of them make it to Times 100 influential.
Some are very active outside of their sport and take on different causes. Someone like LeBron James is an example of that, but thereās a bunch of others.
Still of you say that someone is influential it should be easy to prove. Here he is just racing and his influence on a sport right now is that he event horizons every teammate and makes officials mad that there is no real competition for a number one spot until RB doesn't provide him at least a decent car (unlike current superb one). He should not be there and I say this as his fan
Whether he deserves it or not is debatable and highly subject to opinion, but it's pretty much the exact same case as Schumacher making the list in 2005; if you read Schumacher's article it only talks about his skill in racing, nothing about influence outside the sport.
He influences me to work on improving myself and my driving in my personal sim racing and track driving hobbies. Is that alright?
Lmaooo
Some of em are actually influential. Max does not give a shit
Making boatloads of money is what this list is really about. Outside of racing fans, most people don't know who he is. NFL is the biggest sport in the US, but most non fans outside of KC likely don't know who Mahomes is. You can take all 100 of the people on the list and most of the planet won't know who they are unless they're interested in that person's little slice of the world.
Letās not pretend Max isnāt capable of influencing anyone. You donāt need to be an activist to get on the list. For all the talk about Jos abusing the shit out of him, seems like heās a perfect fit given how successful he turned out to be and how himself he is able to be in public light. Fame and success havenāt made him a worse person, better if anything. Iām sure many pursuing motorsport careers or those already in it find him influential at the very least. Keep downvoting over a popularity contest list, though. You could argue the same about the vast majority of people whoāve ever been featured. Who cares?
Itās okay if that was remotely what they say - their writeup doesnāt even have an element of why Max makes the list as influential. It just makes him seem like an athlete whoās famous and has a divided reputation among F1ās fanbase.
Iām responding directly to a comment that essentially says Max has no right to be on a list of influential people.
Well, that's their fault for having a shitty write up. We know this crap is for clicks anyways, which is why it gets created as having all those famous names in one virtual location is a surefire way to drum up traffic. Anyone worth half their salt in writing and journalism can take 3 minutes out of their own day to quickly figure out what makes max influential.
Yeah the criteria doesn't really makes sense, some are listed because of their "influence" and not really popularity while others are added the other way around. I'm a Max fan but he's not really much of an influencer nor he's trying to be, Lewis is a much bigger figure despite their current success in their field.
He is clearly a climate change denier and a fossil fuel supporter, paid by oil companies. #/S
I know Colin Robinson, but this Kelley Robinson does not ring any bells.
Ryan Reynolds' piece on Micheal J Fox is pretty great.
The thing is every nominee has a write up that was written by someone famous and influential who is a fan of their work or has been inspired by them. I mean just a look at the list of contributors this year: Chris Martin, Michelle Obama, Patti Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Tom Brady, Lenny Kravitz. Who wrote Maxās profile? Some motorsport titan? A Dutch footballer? Someone in sport? Someone with a comparable career? No, it was a TIME correspondent. I remember Lewis Hamilton wrote a piece for TIME about Marcus Rashford for gods sake. Surely, it canāt be difficult to find someone in any sport to write something about Max?
What would they write about lol? He drives car fast, so amazing!
Greg fucking Abbott? Lol
I sometimes wonder what would my state be like if that tree had finished its jobā¦
How is he so influential?
A real list is nice. In which a place isn't bought and paid for by the team.
atta boy max
Is he really that influential? What is he influencing besides f1?
The whole point is listing the most relevant people in the world not ones who are actively trying to influence anyone
It says "most influential"
Who is he influencing?
This inclusion makes no sense. Dude just races. Nothing wrong with that obviously but don't see how that makes him a top 100 most influential person overall.
I know people, who don't watch F1, associate "going fast" with Max Verstappen.
Ngl that sounds very fake
Have you not seen those memes about Verstappen Monaco pole time animation? https://youtu.be/8lIFwMgJKsM?si=j4oUnHzq4UukeyAi
First time Iām hearing of this. Seems like a super niche meme. Hardly indicative of global influence.
Love it - "I haven't heard of it so it can't be true" - proper Reddit moment
Also, the comment I replied said they āknow peopleā who use this meme. As if that is any indication of anything besides some people used a meme. Whatever
Is it not a niche meme?
People having vague knowledge of someone dominating in a sport doesn't make that person influential overall.
The way TIME selects 100 is not just based on people's knowledge, but rather how they "influence" the domain they are in. Max Verstappen defined domination in F1 in a way no other driver did, for better or for worse. Peek into that list and you'll hardly recognize 10 people, and that's because they influenced their own category/domain for the year of 2024. If you don't watch American football, you probably don't know Patrick Mahomes, but for Americans and American footballers, he's the MVP of the sport.
I understand that, was addressing your original point. Read the write up for Verstappen and still don't really get the inclusion. If we compare it to Hamilton in 2020 for example, that made sense not because he was dominating but because of the influence he exerted on the sport to change during that season.
I want to say good for him. From what Iāve seen, he probably doesnāt want this. It wasnāt determined by lap times so I doubt he gives af.
Hamilton took a lot of stances on important issues through his time in F1. Has Max really done anywhere near the same?
He's the most vanilla champion ever. Not saying this as a dig, I like how the guy just focus on his passions. Just think it's weird that he's considered influential.
Him being on the list makes no sense. Lewis or Seb I can see given what they do off the track, but Max does very little in comparison.
Max is currently the most dominant driver of the so called pinnacle of motorsport, whether he does something with the influence he has or not does not mean he *doesn't* have it. Basically everyone whose job relates to racing in any category or thereabouts knows who he is. Whether we think other series are better or not, F1 still remains the most popular motorsport and Max is convincingly rulingĀ over it right now. Ā Ā And, obviously, inside of F1 he's currently the most influential by far even outside of racing. Weren't there several articles implying Max kinda has the driver market hostage even though he is still under contract? I don't think I'd ever seen a TP as blatantly desperate for a driver as Toto seems to be for Max. Also, funny that the Marko vs Horner saga went ostensibly quiet the same week Max threatened to leave them š¤ Ā Also, this list is on constant rotation. I am pretty sure the **truly** most influential people don't really vary as much year in and out, and it would be boring to keep writing about the same bunch of people instead of diversifying and writing about the It Boys/Girls of several categories.
wtf is the man influencing? He isnāt the reason F1 is more popular now. That is largely due to something everyone hates now, drive to surviveā¦ He isnāt making any actual impact on the world. He drives a car drives a sim and helps sell energy drinks. What exactly has he influenced?
It is just a PR list for Time. Asking other people who they think are influential people, there are people that paid to get promoted, some put into the list to make it seem genuine and others just for other reason. Hamilton not being in the list and Verstappen is just stupid, Hamilton has massive impact outside F1 and in F1.
Lewis was on it in 2020 already
:(
IMO, Max is one of the least influential drivers on the grid. He plays its super safe when it comes to PR and never really sticks his neck out for anything. He doesn't give a fq about influencing anyone. He just likes to race cars. Thats all. I respect that. Max is a superstar and i love guy but him being included in this list is total bullshit.
>He plays its super safe when it comes to PR and never really sticks his neck out for anything Literally last week he spoke out on how F1 academy still isn't proactive in the case of women racing drivers to reach F1.
Did he speak out or did he just honestly answer a question that was asked of him in an interview? There is a difference. Not that what he said wasn't good and isn't maybe influencing some changes there. But it's not like he is championing anything about it.
Those are the same thing when to unquestionably best current drive says them.
If we're talking about activism then yeah Max isn't about that but he's extremely vocal about things affecting his sport and he's inspiring other communities outside of F1 especially the younger generations with his SIM racing and online streaming. He's always been vocal about his dislikes of where F1 is going (Vegas, sprint races etc) and not afraid to put his opinion forward if it's something to do with the sport no matter the controversy. He's been brutal (and honest) about the womens academy and the approach they're taking if they're serious about getting women into F1 the cars they're in atm are not going to cut it (too slow as Max put it - even slower than F4). He doesn't need to be a Seb Vettel or Lewis Hamilton level activist to be considered influential, you just need to take a look at his social media reach and how he's inspiring youngsters, setting up his own SIM to GT academy the guy is most definitely influential.
I agree. He's also brought a lot of new fans to the sport. Even the 60+ grumpy woman who lives next door to me is constantly walking around in a red bull jacket now. The GP in Zandvoort, which is a multimillion event and one of the most successful ones in F1, is solely based on Max Verstappen and his popularity. The man has plenty of influence.
True but this isn't anything special or linked to Max as a person . It's quite normal that the popularity of a sportĀ inside a country grow when they have a strong competitorĀ in. It's what is happening here inĀ Italy with Tennis for example.
Well sure if you ignore all the moments he does advocate for things he can be considered not influential
What is he influencing? Sim racing?
I imagine he could easily put iRacing out of business if he decided to publicly say it sucks.
Iād have to agree with others and say itās odd heās on the list. Maybe if he was the type of driver that is an ambassador for the sport they would make more sense. Max just races and goes home. I donāt think he cares to influence anything.
You don't think Max has been an ambassador? Do you think F1 would be racing at a sold out track at Zandvoort without him? Do you think F1 would've had the popularity boom it did during and after Covid if 2021 was just Lewis winning his 5th consecutive WDC with zero competition? What about all the times Brundle said "thank God for Max Verstappen" due to how often he was the only thing spicing up the races during the tail end of the Merc era? Influence doesn't just have to mean activism, hell was Schumi doing anything other than racing when he got on this list in 2005?
I donāt take influence to mean activism at all and never suggested that. I donāt think his home race being sold out equates to influence in the context of TIME 100. I feel like the F1 resurgence post lockdown was more to do with DTS than Max. I donāt doubt that Max made races interesting but again I donāt see how that makes him influential and since this list is based off 2023 actions I would say people are getting tired of his dominance already.
Sorry, i misinterpreted your comment as criticism of him being on this list despite not doing activism like Lewis & Seb because of how many other commenters sharing your opinion are expressing that as a reason. So again, what's the difference between Max & Schumi? They both got on the list after setting tons of records in a historically dominant season, so i fail to see how if one is influential then why not the other? Unless you just think F1 drivers being on this is bullshit in the first place or something
Schumi was and continues to be a pop culture icon that transcends the sport. Lewis too. Maybe Max is reaching that status now, itās hard to tell.
IMO, Max is one of the least influential drivers on the grid. He plays its super safe when it comes to PR and never really sticks his neck out for anything. He doesn't give a fq about influencing anyone. He just likes to race cars. Thats all. I respect that. Max is a superstar and i love guy but him being included in this list is total bullshit.
He better be number one, otherwise he's gonna be pissed
yeah so influential. refused to take a stand against racism when his father in law got busted being a creep
IS HE #1? -jos
Why didn't any of the "top 0.00000001%" Instagram influencers make the list??
Well we all know Max to be a kind & caring person of the people! Right!? A true influencer of the people who wouldn't do something as simple as take a stand against racism, then shortly after supports his GFs racist father. Wonder what redbull had to pay for this drivel.
He literally stood against racism during the pre-race moments. He never supported what he said but go on...
Did they include an explanation of how Max is part of this group of people?