Max Verstappen says the stress just isn’t on him within the championship combat however on the 2 McLaren drivers, the place there’s a possible distraction in battling one another heading into this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri by one level with 4 rounds remaining, whereas Verstappen is 36 adrift of Norris after a latest robust run of kind through which the Dutchman has scored three victories and three additional podiums up to now six races. Verstappen says his performances and skill to get again into the combat already make the yr a hit, and means he has nothing to lose nevertheless the ultimate races play out.
“For me there is no such thing as a stress,” Verstappen mentioned. “Even when I do not win it, I nonetheless know that I drove a very good season. I can fortunately say that to try to replicate the season that I’ve completed with individuals on the grid, I believe it is going to be very powerful.
“You simply must be sensible within the possibilities that we had all through the season. To nonetheless be speaking about being on this combat is already outstanding within the first place.
“For certain, it has to do with the turnaround of the crew. They by no means gave up and that is the power of the crew. Nonetheless, I believe once you’re over 100 factors behind and nonetheless we’re speaking about being on this combat, it’s totally spectacular.”
With the 2 McLaren drivers within the lead, Verstappen says the very fact they’re preventing one another in addition to him might be to his benefit, though he’d quite have the efficiency benefit that Norris and Piastri have had for almost all of the season.
“For certain, the distraction possibly is a little bit bit there at McLaren between the 2 drivers, however on the identical time, they nonetheless have a really quick automotive,” he mentioned. “So should you would inform me what I want to have, give me the distraction. I do not care anyway. Simply give me the quickest automotive and I will drive it as quick because it must be.
“It may be good for me, however on the identical time, we simply have to make it possible for we have now a sooner automotive. We must be forward of them. It is so simple as that.”
Verstappen additionally sees Mercedes and Ferrari probably having roles to play if both crew might be notably aggressive at an upcoming venue, as he feels Pink Bull will want one weekend the place he can shut the hole by a big margin.
“To start with, we additionally must be sooner than them to the tip of the season to shut the hole down,” he mentioned. “So we’ll see. We had some good rounds the place the hole got here down. However now to the tip with 4 races, it is nonetheless a fairly large hole. I want to attain much more factors each single weekend, which isn’t that easy.
“I imply, should you would give me the 2023 season with how all the pieces was and also you inform me I am 36 factors behind with 4 races to go, I am like, ‘Yeah, no drawback. Straightforward.’ However this season, after all, has been a little bit bit completely different.
“So it comes right down to us optimizing all the pieces and nailing the weekend. And apart from that, in all probability we want a little bit little bit of luck at one spherical to create a much bigger offset. However we’ll give all of it. And if that is going to be sufficient on the finish of the yr, I do not know. However there’s additionally not a lot to lose. I imply, worst case we have now P3, and finest case you possibly can win a championship.”
