After finding himself on the top spot of the podium yet again at the inaugural Las Vegas GP last week, Max Verstappen arrived in Abu Dhabi a few days back for the final race weekend in this year’s F1 season. With only a gap of a few days between the two Grand Prix weekends, everyone involved with Formula 1 had to quickly wrap up everything from Vegas and fly halfway across the world for the Abu Dhabi GP. Obviously, this includes three times world champion Max who uses his private jet to fly between different locations. Popular podcaster and sports analyst Joe Pompliano recently posted flight tracking details of Max’s private jet, which revealed some startling facts.
According to the publicly available flight tracking details, the Dassault Falcon 900EX owned by Max Verstappen covered 9000 miles in less than 24 hours to reach Abu Dhabi, covering three continents. Mind you, the Falcon 900EX is a relatively small aircraft with a limited range. Covering 9000 miles in a day is a very impressive feat for the jet. After taking off from Las Vegas, Max’s jet made a short fuel stop in Maine and flew to Amsterdam. It again took off from the F1 champion’s native country for the trip’s final destination, Abu Dhabi. Pompliano’s tweet received a mixed reaction from his followers and other X (formerly Twitter) users. While some claimed that Max deserves the luxury of flying across the globe in a private jet being the highest-paid driver on the F1 grid, there were people who criticized the F1 champion for being insensitive towards environmental concerns and climate change.
There’s no denying that flight travel creates more carbon emissions than any other form of transportation and private jets are the worst. According to the European clean-transport group Transport & Environment, a single person using a private jet emits 10 to 20 times as much carbon pollution as a commercial airline passenger. The Falcon 900EX’s fuel consumption is rated at 267 gallons per hour (GPH), which is quite impressive but it’s still not an efficient way to travel. This is not the first time Max has been criticized for being indifferent towards climate change. Back in 2019, the Dutchman ridiculed everyone questioning the negative environmental impact of F1. Furthermore, he voiced his opinion against F1 going electric. “Yeah, I like fuel, can I say that? I don’t like electric stuff,” Max said. “Well, I like my little electric moped at home. But not for an F1 car.”
Max’s $15 million private jet
The private jet owned by the three-time F1 world champion is Dassault Falcon 900EX, which he bought in 2020 from billionaire Sir Richard Branson. The jet was manufactured by French aviation giant Dassault in 2008 and is currently estimated to be worth $15 million. Decked out in dark gray color along with bright orange stripes on the outside, the aircraft more than matches Max’s personality. On the inside, the Falcon 900EX can accommodate eight to 12 people and also has its own bar. It is powered by three Honeywell TFE731-60 engines, each offering 5,000 pounds of thrust. The trijet is capable of flying over long distances and has a range of 5,182 miles.
