Verstappen, speaking in an interview ahead of the Mexico Grand Prix, stressed he had a “long-term” contract with Red Bull until 2028, and praised rival teams for “catching up” on the previously dominant world champions.
Despite not winning a grand prix since June the 27-year-old expressed quiet confidence that he could hold off title rival Lando Norris of McLaren in the remaining five races and claim his fourth straight Formula One drivers’ crown.
Red Bull and Verstappen raced out of the blocks at the start of the season, hoovering up seven of the first 10 races.
But then the wheels dramatically fell off their title charge, with Verstappen’s only win since Spain coming in the sprint race in the United States last Saturday.
The Dutchman though believes the team under Christian Horner’s stewardship have emerged from a fraught time to check McLaren’s remarkable rise to the top of the constructors’ standings.
The car that Verstappen likened to a “monster” only last month in Monza appears to have turned the corner, its problems ironed out, and Verstappen goes into Sunday’s race 57 points clear of Norris.
– ‘Tough races’ –
“We had a few tough races, I think we understood our problem and now the remaining races are all about just trying to get the balance back in the car and in general of course make it also go faster.”
If the RB20 was not reading its 2024 script properly, nor were the team, whose pre-season build-up was derailed by the damaging Horner case.
There had been speculation triple world champion Verstappen could move to Mercedes to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton next year after Red Bull team principal Horner was accused of inappropriate conduct towards a woman colleague.
Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing ahead of the season-opener in Bahrain but the off-track scandal rumbled on for weeks.
Adding to the Red Bull turmoil were the departure of some integral figures in the team’s success story over the years, not least engineering guru Adrian Newey.
Verstappen himself raised doubts about his future in Formula One one in Singapore last month after he was sanctioned by governing body, the FIA, for swearing.
Asked by AFP in Red Bull’s motorhome at the high-altitude Mexican circuit whether he was planning to see out his Red Bull contract to the end of the 2028 season he replied: “That’s definitely the intention, I signed a long-term deal with the team and in a perfect world we of course end it here.”
And he did not make a link between Red Bull’s off-track problems and their car losing its way in mid-season.
“This is something that is very difficult to answer, I think of course the decisions that were taken with this year’s car were already before all that, so of course it’s easy to blame it on that, but I don’t want to do that.”
– ‘Prefer to win by 30 seconds’ –
After “a few tough races” with the Horner case an unwelcome side storm Red Bull look back in business.
“We are working together to try and come up with solutions, to try and find more performance and we are in the middle of that,” added Verstappen.
“I think last weekend already it showed more promising results and I hope that we can continue that.”
With Norris and McLaren emerging as genuine title contenders it’s giving F1 fans something to shout about whilst making life a whole lot harder for Verstappen compared to 2023.
Fighting with Norris last weekend for third spot at the United States Grand Prix he said was good, “but winning by 30 seconds is also very nice!
“I prefer to win by 30 seconds,” said Verstappen who took third spot in Texas after Norris was relegated to fourth following a penalty.
He said there were no guarantees that he would be able to hold onto his driver’s crown.
“A lot of things can still go wrong, but we just need to do a good job as a team and of course from my side I have to be on it every single weekend.”
By AFP