Max Verstappen vehemently denied Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko’s claim that he lost interest in Formula 1 during the team’s mid-season slump before the summer break.
Prior to updates at the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull was cut adrift of McLaren, unable to challenge for consistent wins, battling with Ferrari and Mercedes for runner-up spots.
A revised floor transformed its fortunes, with Verstappen securing three wins in the last four races to narrow the gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri to just 40 points.
The Dutchman is performing at his peak, motivated and targeting snatching the title away from Piastri and Lando Norris in the final five races, a stark contrast to a few months ago.
Red Bull’s mid-season victory drought led to comments from Marko that Verstappen lost interest in F1 while exploring GT Racing and other ventures, but he firmly denied this when asked.
“No, I don’t,” he told media including Motorsport Week in Mexico.
“Of course, it’s more enjoyable coming to the race weekends like this than knowing that you don’t have a chance to win.
“But I know for myself that when I sit in the car, I will always try to maximise everything that I have and I give it everything.
“So, even if I’m fighting for P4 or even a P9, I will always try to get the best out of it. I will be happy or not happy with certain results.”
Verstappen relaxed about racing outside F1
Expanding on his GT Racing ventures away from F1, Verstappen outlined the detailed process he undertook to ensure these did not clash with his duties at Red Bull.
“And allowing me to do other stuff, this has been planned already for a long time”, he continued.
“So, it’s not that this has suddenly come on the radar, because these things have to be planned well in advance. And the preparation for it as well.
“So, that it allowed me this year to compete myself in real life.
“Yeah, that was the first opportunity. But I’ve been doing this also offline a lot, even racing during the fun weekends online.
“So, there’s nothing really that has changed in terms of how professional I approach my race weekends.”
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