Verstappen: F1 title 'not in my hands' with Red Bull's current form
08/30/2024 04:39 AM
Max Verstappen is giving it his all but admits that the 2024 F1 world title might be beyond his control due to Red Bull's current struggles.
Thanks to a remarkably strong opening run last spring that included five wins in the first seven races of the season, Verstappen still holds a comfortable 70-point lead in the Driver's championship over McLaren rival Lando Norris.
But the Dutchman hasn't stood on the top step of the podium since last June's Spanish Grand Prix.
Worse, Norris' crushing display and 22-second advantage at the end of last Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix is a testament to team papaya's continued momentum, and a serious cause for concern for Red Bull which also suffered three defeats at the hands of Mercedes this summer.
Acknowledging his rivals' superiority, Verstappen has expressed frustration with the RB20's deteriorating performance since recent updates and insists he clearly does not have the car to ensure a fourth consecutive F1 title.
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"Listen, I just do the best I can," Verstappen said in Monza on Thursday. "If I win it or not, it's not going to change my life.
"Would I like to win it? Yes, of course. But it's not in my hands with the performance of the car.
"Because I just try to do the best I can. Try to give feedback; try to make it faster.
"If that's going to be enough to the end of the year, I don't know. But I do know that we're going to give it everything we have as a team.
"To try and be more competitive than what we showed, of course, in Zandvoort. Because that was, I think, just a very poor weekend for us. And just go from there."
©RedBull
Despite the unexpected turn of events, Verstappen maintains a positive outlook and is embracing the challenge.
"I am enjoying it, yeah," he said. "Would I like to win more? Yes, of course. But I also knew that, you know, a season like we had last year was very unrealistic.
"But did I expect it to be like this? Not really. With, of course, how we ended and how we started.
"So now it's up to us to just try and make it better. But I know that everyone is working flat out to make it better."
Predictably, Verstappen was asked if Red Bull's current woes were somehow linked to Adrian Newey stepping back from his role as chief technical officer ahead of his departure from the team in early 2025.
"Normally not," he replied. "It's just, yeah, since it was announced that he was leaving, it's been more difficult.
"But, I mean, it shouldn't matter if someone is, say, leaving on the spot that immediately the performance drops because the car has always been the same."
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