Autobayng News Team
Max Verstappen says he and Red Bull are capable of pulling off the “perfect” run they need for him to win the world championship this year because they’ve done it before.
Having been 104 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen has closed to within 40 points with five rounds remaining. He said he is clearly back in contention for the title.
“At one point, when you start going to like 80, 90 points, 100 points [behind], especially four or five races ago, you think that’s a big ask,” he told the BBC. “And also with the way the performances were going, it was not really looking very likely.”
Although he has made rapid progress in recent rounds, Verstappen says that must continue over the final races for him to have a chance to win the title.
“With the results that we have it looks like we are back into it. At the same time, I also know that everything needs to go perfect to the end.
“But having said that, we have done it before. Even though, of course, when we have done it before we were way more dominant, I would say.
“But why not? It’s a good task, we have fun, the pressure is not on us. We are enjoying what we’re doing and we will give everything we have until the end.
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“If it’s enough, that will be a brilliant story. If not, we will still be proud: the upswing of performance is quite remarkable and we will be very happy with what we have delivered.”
Verstappen needs to overhaul both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to take the lead of the championship. But he says the biggest threat to his championship bid could be “bad luck.”
“You can have a crash, you can get hit, you can have a puncture,” he said. “You can have an untimely Safety Car, you can get sick, you can slip in the shower, you break your leg.
“Anything can happen, right? I don’t want to think about it too much, I just come here and I hope that we can have a strong weekend here again, which will help for the championship.”
Neither Piastri nor Norris have won a championship before. Verstappen says that means he is under less pressure than his rivals.
“I always said that, if you win it, great, right? It’s always great to add another title to it.
“But at the same time, I don’t need to, in a sense. So that takes a lot of pressure away. But I also know for myself that when I sit in the car, I will always maximise everything that I have.”
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