Red Bull has made huge progress with a car which felt “scary” to drive early in the season, says Max Verstappen.
The four-times world champion has won the last two grands prix in a row and also took victory in the sprint race in Singapore last week. The team’s form has improved significantly since the beginning of the season, when Verstappen only reached the podium once in the first seven rounds.Verstappen spun out of the British Grand Prix suffered costly spins in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring and Hungaroring as the team struggled to get on top of its car. However their most recent upgrades have transformed its performance.
“The car definitely felt a lot nicer from Baku onwards,” said Verstappen. “It’s just been a lot more balanced. Then naturally, of course, when you can compete a bit further up front without having too many issues with the car compared to the beginning of the year, where it was actually sometimes a bit scary to drive, that makes it a lot nicer.”
Verstappen finished a close second behind George Russell in Baku. He qualified only eighth but was in contention for pole position until his final lap was compromised by a yellow flag.
He has been undefeated since then and expects to remain competitive over the final rounds. “We’re not in a championship fight, and that’s why I think ’til the end we’ll just try to have a good time and try to add more podiums and hopefully a few wins.”
It is the second time in as many years that Red Bull has made a breakthrough with a troublesome car in the second half of a season. “Two completely different cars as well, with the regulations,” Verstappen noted. “Also two completely different problems.
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“We had to find lap time. Plus, of course, also this year with the engine side of things, I think for everyone it’s been sometimes a bit complicated to get the most out of it.”
Red Bull needs to ensure they begin next year in better shape, said Verstappen.
“From race one to now, I think we’ve gained a lot of experience. Of course, we’re still not where we want to be, but I guess everyone will say the same thing.
“But we have learned so much and definitely also on the car side have fixed a lot of our weaknesses. We just need to keep improving, keep learning this year that so we can apply that also into next year.”