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Max Verstappen, despite many expecting him to dominate this season, has faced a series of difficulties this year. While the Dutch driver started strong and hinted that he could win his fourth championship title, he went through a surprising 10-race winless streak. This was something many thought impossible.
However, the last race in Brazil finally brought Red Bull fans what they had been waiting for: a victory from their beloved driver and a glimpse of better days ahead.
The 27-year-old showed once again the kind of performance that had been long awaited.
In a media interview, Max emphasized that this moment was crucial for the Austrian team. The past few weeks had served as a learning period for Red Bull, helping them realize where they were going wrong and what changes they needed to make
“Yeah, well, I mean, of course, that was important. I wanted to, of course, win a bit sooner. But yeah, it's been tough for us.
We always kept pushing. We didn't really understand why the others were so fast in the race, especially. Yeah, I've been trying a lot of things to improve the car."-Max Verstappen said, as quoted by Crash.
The Dutch driver wasn’t particularly optimistic heading into the race, especially since they started from 17th place, and it didn’t seem like they had much of a chance for victory. Max once again referred to the period behind him as "tough." However, what’s also important, he stressed, is staying calm in moments when the pressure is on, when chaos reigns, and when things aren’t going your way. Verstappen remains confident that his team can fight for the championship, which makes perfect sense given that he’s currently leading, with indications that he could hold onto that position until the end of the season.
“And I mean, starting P17 this morning, didn't look like we were going to win the race again. So yeah, it's an incredible result for us. A massive boost for the team, because honestly, it's been tough.
But it is also a big strength of the team to stay calm and just try to work on performance and try to improve our situation. And I'm confident. I'm confident for the last three races that we can fight again, and especially in the race that we will be more competitive.”- Verstappen said.
Max clarified that the victory in Brazil was especially important because going into the race, he was expecting to lose points. He wasn’t feeling overly confident about the result, but it turned out to be a crucial moment for him and the team. Looking ahead, he stressed that his focus isn’t on trying to clinch the championship in specific races like in Vegas; instead, he just wants to have consistent, clean races for the rest of the season. His priority is to avoid mistakes and maintain strong performances across the board.
It will be interesting to see if this marks the start of a strong momentum for Red Bull, giving them the chance to carry their success into the upcoming weeks. The last race can be seen as having "broken the curse" for the Austrian team, which had been struggling to find a solution to its rivals in the previous races. Red Bull’s victory will now make it quite harder for McLaren and Lando Norris, who didn’t impress in São Paulo, to fight for top positions.
Lando Norris on the race
The last race was interesting for many reasons, and Lando Norris decided to share his thoughts on it. The young British driver pointed out that he did everything he could, but his teammate on the F1 track was simply a step ahead, executing everything perfectly and not leaving any room for others to get close. Norris was satisfied with his pace and many of the finer details of his performance. However, as he acknowledged, the ultimate goal is always victory, and this time, he was far from achieving that.
“I did all I could today. That's all. Max won the race. Good on him well done but it doesn't change anything for me,” he said.
“Max was easily quicker than us and I think if he went from the front he probably would have lapped us. The pace was good, I think similar to George but the Red Bull was very fast today."
Lando Norris stressed that it had been a bit of a rollercoaster weekend for him, but he felt there wasn't much more he could have done. The young Brit stressed that George Russell probably felt like he had won the race, given how well he performed and how deserved his result was. Norris felt that, realistically, a third-place finish was the best he could have hoped for.
English (US)