Max Verstappen is aware that he will certainly not experience a season like the one he experienced in 2023, with 19 successes for him and 21 in total for Red Bull in 22 races. The three-time world champion explains that this is normal and that he and his team are just trying to stay at the top.
“I would say last season was pretty incredible what we did as a team, and it will be quite difficult to replicate something like that” Verstappen said. “I always knew that, so I never went into this season thinking, ‘let’s try to do even better than what we did last year.’
“Because it’s basically impossible. So I was always up for the challenge, and naturally, with the regulations we have, I think the cars are getting closer to each other, which is good for the sport. “
“We’re just trying to stay on top – we’re really trying to improve our car, learn from the car’s weak points as well – and I’m sure if we can go further we’ll still have a very strong package.”
While the public is divided between expecting him to string together victories and wanting more competition, the Dutchman is happy to see the gaps narrowing: “People get used to success very quickly and almost expect you to keep doing the same thing, in a certain way. But deep down, they don’t want you to do that. “
“I don’t know, it’s a bit weird. From my side and from the team’s side, we are very focused on looking for improvement, on wanting to do better, but naturally the competition is getting closer too . They also have good weekends, but that’s fine.”
“No specific weakness” on the RB20
He is not worried about possible weaknesses of his RB20, despite a difficult Grand Prix in Monaco and some complicated starts to the weekend: “I don’t think there’s a specific weakness, it’s just that some weekends you know you do things a little better than others.”
“It is like that, and of course when the others are closer you can no longer hide behind a weaker weekend or anything else. Last year we had maybe a little more of this luxury, but that is no longer the case today.”
“But so far this year I’ve always felt very comfortable with the car – I always felt like I got the most out of it in qualifying. From that point of view, I don’t I’m not really worried.”
“And I don’t feel like it needs massive improvements. We just need to try to improve the performance of the car, try to understand some elements that really surprised us in Monaco, and try to improve this for the future.”
“You can no longer” base yourself on 2023
With the evolution of the performances of all the teams, the championship leader reveals that it is impossible to rest on the results of the previous year: “It’s going to depend on a lot of different things. We have a lot of different avenues.”
“I still find the start of the calendar interesting. There are still a few circuits coming up that will probably favor us a bit, but on the other hand, as everyone gets closer, we have tighter battles .”
“Every weekend you have to try to optimize your package. You can’t say to yourself ‘last year we were very strong here, everything will be fine’. No, every time you come back you have to try to optimize the settings of the car you really have to be on top, and of course we always try to do that.”
“We expect that of ourselves, but it’s not that easy. Even last year we had a lot of good weekends, but there was a lot of work every weekend to try to achieve this result.”
“Neither the desire nor the need to compare myself”
Asked about his desire to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the fact that a victory could propel him to the rank of one of the greatest drivers in history, Verstappen recalls that he is not a fan of the rankings of this kind.
“I have neither the desire nor the need to compare myself to anyone else. Of course, in other disciplines they may be better, but that doesn’t matter, I’m not interested in comparing who is the best or even to know who is the best.”
“It’s the same thing in F1: ‘Who is the best?’. ‘Who is the best driver of all time?’ I do not care. I just live in the present moment. I try to do my best, that’s all that matters to me.”
“Of course, in the future I want to do endurance racing because it’s something I’m passionate about and you have to work with your teammates to bring success home. But this constant debate about who is the best or who can do it better, who is the most versatile driver…”
“I’d rather focus on having a good time with my family and friends when I’m at home, having a good meal and having a good drink than thinking about those kinds of things.”
