Max Verstappen declared his Red Bull RB16B as “the best it has ever been” after dominating Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen crushed the opposition on Sunday to chalk up a third successive win from pole position, and for the second straight race he was never headed up front.
The victory, along with the fastest lap, enabled Verstappen to stretch his advantage over Lewis Hamilton in the championship to 32 points.
“I think so,” he said on whether the car felt the best it has been. “I thought that last week, but definitely this week it was better.
“To win again at home at the Red Bull Ring is just incredible. I expected it to be good, but not this good, and the car was on rails.
“It was really nice to drive and the pace was incredible on both tyre compounds.
“I could push and also look after the tyres which is exactly how you want it to be and I could extend my gap lap after lap.
“Just like everyone else we learnt from last weekend and we optimised the car even more by improving the set-up.
“It’s actually hard to put into words because it was so enjoyable to drive and the weekend was the best it could be, so let’s hope we can carry on in the same way.”
The win was Verstappen’s fourth in the last five races, and fifth in total this season, but he cautioned that Red Bull cannot get carried away with its current situation.
“I’m enjoying it, but I’m also focused on the rest of the season,” he said. “It is still so long and there are still a lot of points you need to score.
“We need to make sure that every single weekend we are back up there and we basically use the whole potential of the car.
“We had a good car here in Austria especially, I think it was just very dominant, but we have to make sure that in Silverstone we are there again and that’s what we will look into now again to make sure we are very competitive there.”
