Max Verstappen said he is surprised to find himself second in the world championship with four rounds to go.
The Red Bull driver was sixth in the standings three rounds ago when he scored his first victory of the season. He moved into the runner-up spot with his third victory of the season in Mexico last weekend.“It’s a big surprise to be second, to be honest, in the championship, but we take it,” he said.
Red Bull had a difficult start to their first season in which they have designed and built their own power unit, in conjunction with Ford. Verstappen only reached the podium once in the first seven rounds.
“We had a lot of difficulties as a team in the beginning,” he said. “The car was not where we wanted it to be. Probably also we still had to learn quite a bit [about] the power units and I think we really learned a lot throughout the season.”
Red Bull has made significant strides in the second half of the season. But Verstappen said even when it was less competitive he was focused on extracting the best from it.
“The car has naturally been a lot more competitive, lately,” he said. “From my side, it’s just you never really give up or, in terms of, you just never really settle for P6 or P7, right?
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“Even when I was in that position or fighting the midfield, I was still trying to do the best that I could get out of the situation. Sometimes that is a P6 when the car is not able to perform better.
“But then once the car is in a better window, then you can fight further up front and eventually, of course, [win] races. And of course, when you win, you take points out of everyone else.
“So that’s been the scene a bit the last races, and I’m, of course, very happy with that. But it also shows that the team never gave up and they were really pushing to find these improvements and understand the difficulties. I’m just happy that within a season we had such a big turnaround.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and