Max Verstappen says he doesn’t feel his chances of winning the Drivers’ Championship have changed much, despite taking another chunk of points away from the McLaren drivers in the United States Grand Prix sprint.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both retired at the first corner of Saturday’s shorter race after a four-car incident that also saw Fernando Alonso retire and Nico Hulkenberg suffer damage. Verstappen went on to win the sprint, taking eight points and closing the gap on Piastri to 55, but the Dutchman says he remains focused on individual results rather than the title picture.
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“It’s not about believing in it,” said Verstappen. “Just take it race by race. I’m just trying to do the best I can. Today, yes, perfect for me to get those points. It brings me a little bit closer, which I think is nice for everyone. Maybe not for them, but in general for everyone.”
“But I look at different things. I wasn’t completely happy with the pace in the race, and I know if we want to win tomorrow we have to be better. That’s just what I’m going to focus on.”
Verstappen was heard complaining about the handling of the rear of his car during the sprint, and he admits he thinks he would have struggled to win if the two McLarens had come cleanly through the first corner.
“It was okay. The start was good, but I think I expected a little better because of the overall pace throughout the race,” he said. “So that’s something we have to work on, especially if the McLarens aren’t ready for round 1 tomorrow.
“I do think that if they had run today it would have been very difficult to keep them behind. So that’s something we have to work on tomorrow. But I’ll take it anyway. We’ll get the points. It’s positive. Now we just have to see how we can improve the pace a little bit.”
“Just a little bit more grip, a better feeling of the balance of the car. Overall it felt good, but in the race I felt like we were probably humiliating [the tires] a little too much. We didn’t have a good reference against the McLarens, but they would certainly have been faster than I think I was now in the sprint. So just think ahead.”
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