2023-08-19 11:53:00
In an interview with De Telegraaf on the eve of the Dutch Grand Prix, Max Verstappen spoke about his mood and plans for the coming years..
Q: It seems that winning the third title is nothing more than a formality. However, you often criticize the current state of affairs in Formula 1…
Max Verstappen: Yes, because I have always loved our sport very much, and I care about what happens in it. I still like it, but to a certain extent. This does not mean that I am completely against change, as they sometimes write about me. But they should benefit Formula 1.
Why change some things if everything is already going well? I think that the traditional qualification format can be considered ideal. It is wrong to change it just for the sake of money.
Question: But Formula 1 is also a business, and thanks to this you have become a very wealthy person…
Max Verstappen: Yes, but in the end, that’s not the point. People might think: this guy makes so much money – why should he complain? But here the point is how comfortable you are working, and not how much you earn. Sometimes it feels like I have to do too many things. So I sometimes wonder: is it all worth the effort?
Q: Your contract with Red Bull Racing runs until the end of 2028, and you have already said that after that you can retire. But what if the new Red Bull engine, which will appear in 2026, is not as good as the team hopes, and it starts to lose ground? Is there a possibility that you can leave the team earlier?
Max Verstappen: I believe that for this event to develop according to a very bad and dramatic scenario. I do not expect that the team will roll back so much, because very good specialists work in it.
In this sport, it can never be ruled out that things will not go well for the team, and in such situations it is important to understand what exactly is happening and what are the ways to overcome the difficulties that have arisen. But I can’t imagine that in the next three years I will have to fight for positions in the middle of the peloton. Then it’s better to stay at home and do something else. But I repeat: I do not assume that everything will be exactly like that.
Q: In previous years, have you thought about leaving Red Bull?
Max Verstappen: I thought differently: will I stay in this team? But in the end, we always agreed. Over time, a lot of things happened with the team: remember, she changed the supplier of engines, because before we had Renault engines, and now Honda. But now work is underway to create our own power plants, so there is always some new goal to strive for. Therefore, it was decided to extend my contract.
Q: You and Red Bull fit together. Could you even work in a more “corporate” environment like Mercedes?
Max Verstappen: It really is a completely different environment. It’s always important to be yourself and keep saying what you think. Then it doesn’t matter to me where to perform. If any team in a similar situation wants to turn me off, they will also have to make some concessions and slightly correct certain things.
But, of course, now we are not talking about this at all. Before, I could not have imagined that I would achieve such success. I just dreamed of Formula 1 and that one day I could drive for a top team. This is what I have always worked for. There are people who are beginning to resent that the championship has become boring. But I know that this coin has another side. At least, personally, Formula 1 does not seem boring to me at all.
Question: It seems that you have always been completely confident in yourself and your own abilities. And so it was in those years when Lewis Hamilton dominated the championship …
Max Verstappen: The rider should always think that way. Otherwise, you will never succeed. Even if you are not the best, you should always give that impression. Personally, I will never admit that there is someone better than me in the paddock.
Question: And you never doubted yourself?
Max Verstappen: I never wondered: am I really as good as I think? Sometimes not everything goes as it should, and there are some unfortunate moments when you have to make a little more effort.
This is exactly what happened at the beginning of the 2018 season. I remember well that after the Monaco Grand Prix I had to completely rebuild. I then thought that I had to start all over again. And the next race, the Canadian Grand Prix, went well. Stupid questions about my style of piloting and my form completely pissed me off. And I answered them.
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