Max Verstappen has claimed that clinching the 2024 Formula 1 title is “not in my hands” based on Red Bull’s current competitiveness, despite his seismic points lead.
Verstappen comes into the remaining nine rounds possessing a considerable 70-point margin over Lando Norris, who is his closest rival in the Drivers’ Championship.
However, McLaren’s crushing dominance at Zandvoort a week ago as Norris registered a 22-second win over Verstappen has prompted alarm bells to ring at Red Bull.
Red Bull has since admitted that McLaren has emerged as the “benchmark”, with Verstappen lamenting the RB20 becoming “more difficult to drive” since the updates.
The Dutchman, who hasn’t won in five races, has conceded that Red Bull’s ongoing struggles mean he does not have the car to guarantee a fourth consecutive F1 title.
“Listen, I just do the best I can,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week. “If I win it or not, it’s not going to change my life.
“Would I like to win it? Yes, of course. But it’s not in my hands with the performance of the car.
“Because I just try to do the best I can. Try to give feedback; try to make it faster.
“If that’s going to be enough to the end of the year, I don’t know. But I do know that we’re going to give it everything we have as a team.
“To try and be more competitive than what we showed, of course, in Zandvoort. Because that was, I think, just a very poor weekend for us. And just go from there.”
But while he has professed that he didn’t expect things to materialise in this manner amid his surging start to the season, Verstappen insists he is relishing the battle.
“I am enjoying it, yeah,” he expressed. “Would I like to win more? Yes, of course.
“But I also knew that, you know, a season like we had last year was very unrealistic.
“But did I expect it to be like this? Not really. With, of course, how we ended and how we started.
“So now it’s up to us to just try and make it better. But I know that everyone is working flat out to make it better.”
Verstappen reverted to an earlier-spec floor at his home round while team-mate Sergio Perez ran an updated version as Red Bull conducted an experimental weekend.
Horner revealed that the test proved that the upgrades had worked as intended, but Verstappen has stressed that he retains no regrets over utilising a slower package.
“I just try to do the best I can, try to find the best possible set-up for the car,” Verstappen reiterated.
“It’s been very difficult to get to that because it’s a bit limited what we can do with the car.
“But like I said before, yeah, of course I would like to win the championship. We still have a great lead.
“But you can’t just go into a weekend like, ‘oh no, we cannot touch the car because then maybe we lose more points or whatever’. You go for it.
“You want to have the best possible package every single weekend.
“But also in situations like the start, taking the risk, going for the gaps, then… No, it’s been quite straightforward.
“I mean, also the start [in Zandvoort] was just very good, so I just went straight. It’s not that I had to do any kind of moves.
“When he [Norris] passed me, yeah, it was an easy pass. There’s no point to defend something like that.”
Verstappen has also denied that boasting a huge margin can enable him to relax as adopting such an attitude would be dangerous with over still 200 points available.
Asked whether his lead was comforting, the three-time F1 champion retorted: “You can’t just calculate it like that. I mean, I would like to win races.
“Otherwise, you know, it’s still nine races and some Sprint races. These kind of things can easily be, of course, overturned.
“But I also know that you need to have a perfect end to the season. And that, I think, is very hard.”
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