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Max Verstappen is aware of the growing threat from teams like McLaren, as his lead continues to shrink from race to race. Although Verstappen still holds a lead over McLaren, there are increasing concerns that this advantage might diminish further in the upcoming races.
McLaren has demonstrated that they have amazing drivers, such as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who have been outstanding this season. Their performances have truly impressed fans of the sport, and McLaren hopes to maintain this momentum and potentially win the championship.
Piastri and Norris have been phenomenal, and their impressive results put additional pressure on Verstappen. In the last race, Verstappen finished in fifth place but emphasized that he will not be deterred and will fight with all his might to stay on top and secure a fourth championship for Red Bull.
Verstappen reflected on the last race and praised Piastri, highlighting that the fight is far from over. Given the current state of affairs, it's clear that McLaren will continue their push to dethrone Red Bull, and Verstappen will need to step up his game to maintain his lead and preserve his dominance.
"It's never nice to see [McLaren leading the standings]," Verstappen said, as quoted by MIRROR.
"But the fight is not over yet. We'll try to get that back."
Max Verstappen, the seasoned Red Bull driver, is currently focused on pinpointing where he might be making the biggest mistakes and figuring out any issues within his team. He’s determined to understand what might be going wrong so he can address and fix these problems.
As the Singapore Grand Prix approaches, Verstappen is eager to show that Red Bull can get back to winning. Although he’s not sure what the rest of the season will bring, he’s committed to proving the team’s ability to bounce back.
Red Bull Racing fans are also looking forward to a strong performance in Singapore, given the team’s past successes at the track. There are high expectations for Red Bull to showcase their usual dominance and return to top form.
"Well, we're trying to optimise the setup to understand what we did wrong here. I don't think it's going to be our best track, naturally, but we'll see. It might surprise us."-he continued.
Helmut Marko reacts
When asked if Red Bull's chance of winning a third consecutive constructors' title is now out of reach, Marko honestly said yes.
He added that a positive aspect is Oscar Piastri is performing closely with Lando Norris in terms of points and that McLaren has team orders in place. This means the situation might not become clear right away.
Marko also mentioned that Max Verstappen struggled in Baku due to tire issues and rising brake temperatures. Although the car has potential, its setup is still very delicate. He doesn’t expect a massive improvement in Singapore and stresses that the team needs to perform better starting from the Austin race. If not, the drivers' championship could also be at risk.
Christian Horner reacts
Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, has expressed his frustration over the crash that affected Sergio Perez, especially given that Perez’s father ended up in the hospital. The stress and worry about the potential consequences of the accident have taken a toll on him.
Horner feels that Perez deserved much better from the race. He was convinced that they had the potential to go far and possibly win, which would have set a positive tone for Max Verstappen in the upcoming races.
Horner also believed that if certain things had gone differently, the race might have turned out more favorably for Red Bull. Despite his years of experience in the sport, he seems confident about the team’s ability to tackle future challenges and doesn’t appear overly concerned about Red Bull’s position going forward.
"Frustrating, because with Checo, he certainly should have been on the podium at the very least in third place, probably second," said Horner.
"I think actually he could have won that race, had it not been for… he lost a lot of time behind Alex Albon initially and then Lando whilst he was on new tyres and Oscar was still out on the old tyres.
Lando backed him up, which allowed Oscar to keep track position and I think without that, we would have been ahead of Oscar and he would have passed Leclerc and he would have been fine, so hugely frustrating."- Horner concluded, as quoted by Motorsport.
Singapore will be an opportunity for this great team to fix things and move in the right direction. Verstappen is tired of the same scenarios.
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