Max Verstappen remains defiant in Montreal, insisting he won’t alter his racing style despite sitting one point from suspension.
Max Verstappen was expected in the Montreal paddock this Thursday to speak following the decision made after the Spanish Grand Prix to place him one penalty point away from a race suspension.
The Red Bull driver must avoid any mistakes in Canada and Austria before regaining a bit of margin.
Under these circumstances, he was logically asked about his approach, and he remained true to himself: nothing will change!
“I absolutely won’t change my approach. No, nothing has changed since then. Why should I?”
“That’s how it is. I was at eight points before and now at eleven. I can’t let up. I’ll just race the way I always do. I have confidence in myself.”
Does he find his precarious situation unfair?
“What is fair? Is it fair that I have 11 points? I don’t know. No, but at the same time, life is unfair. I don’t care.”
“I’m here just to race, and I will always race hard, the way I think I should race. And then we move on to the next race.”
When asked how badly it would hurt if he actually missed a race, Verstappen ultimately replied:
“If you really look at it, you know, in general, missing a race is not ideal but it’s not the end of the world!”
However, Verstappen clarified that he hoped to avoid a suspension and wasn’t worried that other drivers might try to push him into a mistake because of his situation.
“I’m not here, of course, trying to get a suspension. Maybe it’s just a talking point for you, not for me. I don’t think about it. Even if they try to take advantage of it, it’s not in my interest. I’ll race the way I want to. Again, that won’t change anything.”
Verstappen also admitted on social media that he was frustrated in Spain and that what happened with Russell shouldn’t have happened. Apologies that many considered a bit half-hearted…
“Of course, as I said, it wasn’t the right thing to do at the time. It was clearly a misjudgment in the corner, but there’s no need to go into the details of why, how, and what. Everyone makes mistakes in life. You learn from them and move on.”
“It was just a few very frustrating laps in a row. I got hit on the straight, almost crashed with the hard tyres. Then I got hit again in turn 1.”
“I was then told I had to give the position back. I thought that made no sense. So a lot of things came together.”
“Up until that point, we had a good race. We applied the right strategy for our car and at least put some pressure on McLaren during the race, where they were still very fast compared to the others. But yes, a frustrating end to the race.”
