Red Bull’s Max Verstappen believes that he has “a lot of work to do,” if he wants to fight for victories and a fifth F1 title this season.
Verstappen benefitted from a late shower to finish second at a wet season-opener in Melbourne, Australia, last weekend but he could only manage fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, China, despite having taken third in the Chinese Sprint a day earlier.
The 27 year-old endured a difficult start on the medium tyre which forced him to run his own pace at “a fair bit slower” speed than his title rivals, before he made a one-stop strategy work to snatch fourth from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Lap 53 which put him eight points off title leader, Lando Norris.
Verstappen though didn’t expect to find improved pace on the hard tyre with better car handling and tyre grip but the improvement left him with confidence that their race performance can get better at Suzuka, Japan, in a fortnight time.
“On the hard tyre, it was a tough beginning, but on the second stint the performance was a lot more promising and we were seeing a lot more pace in the car. The last 19 laps were more positive and better than expected as we were having equal lap times to the front runners.
“We were handling the car better and had a lot more grip on the tyres, so everything looked more hopeful and it was more fun to drive.
“We can take a lot of lessons from this weekend and hopefully this means that we can see a better performance in Japan, especially on a circuit that I really enjoy driving at.”
Despite sitting just eight points off Norris in the drivers’ standings and with hope that his race performance is improving, Verstappen is wary of how much progress he needs to make if he is to become a reigning five-time consecutive champion by end of season.
“We do still have a lot of work to do, as we are not where we want to be and our car is not that easy to drive, but at least the final stint was more promising and there is a lot that we can go back and analyse.”
Team Principal, Christian Horner echoed Verstappen’s sentiments on the fact that there is still work to do to improve the RB21 car, although he is pleased that the team sit third in the constructors’ standings amidst their early-season difficulties.
“Lots of lessons to takeaway and we know where we need to improve, but we still managed to come away with 12 points and have kept it close with the top competitors these first two fly aways, and we’ll look to do more with Japan up next.”
