The Formula One hit the halfway stage of the season, with Max Verstappen in second position trailing Lewis Hamilton only 8 points. Red Bull sat down with Max to see how he feels about his season so far. With 11 races of the season down, Max has claimed five wins and was leading the Drivers’ Championship until the latest race at the Hungaroring. But it’s not just race wins the Dutchman has collected, he’s also picked up a few new records along the way too. However, the two most recent races haven’t gone to plan for Max and the Team.
We all know what happened at Silverstone, but at the final race before the break, the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max was crashed into at turn one in a crash that saw four cars retire. Max was able to get his heavily damaged RB16B back to the pits and have some repairs made during the red flag.
With a heavily damaged car Max pushed with all his might and crossed the finish line in P10 (promoted to P9 after Sebastian Vettel was disqualified after his P2 finish). "We have the summer break now but we keep pushing, we will never give up and we will focus on ourselves,” said Max after the Hungarian Grand Prix. “We’ve had two very unlucky races but nothing is lost, it’s still a very long season. Overall, it’s been a good start for us, we’ve been really competitive. But we need to be there at the end of the season as well, because that’s what you work for as a team, so let’s hope it’s going to be like that.”
The test in Bahrain feels like a lifetime ago and was the first time Max got to try his 2021 race car for the first time, he liked it, but wasn’t sure if it was going to be competitive from race one. “It felt nice to drive, but it’s always difficult to tell initially how it’s going to be, but we were competitive and looking good right from the start,” explained Max.
Max has a few records to his name already and during the triple-header of France and the two races in Austria he picked up two more. He became the youngest driver to claim a grand slam at a race (pole, race win, fastest lap and leading every lap) and also became the first driver to ever win all three races of a triple-header. But these don’t concern Max in the slightest.
“I’m not focussed on records, my aim is to win the championship, for me that’s the only one that matters,” he said, allowing himself some positive reflection by adding: “The wins in Austria were very nice. The win in Monaco was also very nice as well, to be honest there’s been quite a few nice ones so far this season.”
For the fourth time in his career Max is racing alongside a new teammate this season and coming into the Bahrain Grand Prix he welcomed Sergio Pérez next to him in the garage. And so far it seems like the pair are building a strong relationship together. “He’s a great teammate, the first few months have been good together. We get on very well, he’s a really cool guy and we can have a good chat about anything, not just racing. That’s always a great thing to have.”
Most recently this season, the crowds have been flocking back to the grandstands and at the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and the Hungaroring there was a sea of orange cheering on Max. “It’s great to have fans back at track, it makes it feel like normal life again. To have so many Orange Army fans too, it’s great to have that atmosphere at the track.”
So, Max now has a couple of weeks break before the Team touches down in Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgium Grand Prix. And for Max, it will be a great way to restart the season. “It’s my favourite track on the calendar and it’s always nice to drive there. I hope we can have a great result, but I will just enjoy driving the laps,” Max concluded.