Max Verstappen says his German Grand Prix victory does not alter his Formula 1 title aspirations, believing Mercedes remains the championship’s dominant force.
Verstappen closed to within 63 points of Lewis Hamilton, and moved just 22 points down on Valtteri Bottas, in the wake of his triumph at a wet/dry Hockenheim.
Verstappen’s victory was his second in just three races, while he also displayed podium-winning pace at Silverstone until he was struck by Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel.
“I don’t know, they’re still miles ahead in the championship,” said Verstappen.
“It’s still quite a lot [of points] isn’t it? More than two victories and they’re still I think the dominant team.
“It was just very tricky out there, easy to make a mistake, as you could see. It was not their day. We managed to do a good job.
“We still have to work very hard to close that gap and actually really fight for the victory every single race, so still a lot of work to do, but of course where you can it’s good to score more points than them.”
Vettel, 21 points down on Verstappen and 84 adrift of Hamilton, echoed the Red Bull youngster’s sentiments.
“There’s still a lot of races to go, a lot of things can happen, but it’s not like we can expect them to score no points for the rest of the season,” said Vettel.
“So pretty much the opposite, they will be up there.
“We need to make sure we improve and give them a much harder time, put them under pressure and things start to move. Up to both of us, or us at Ferrari, and Red Bull.”
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