"Not my first title fight": Max Verstappen downplays pressure
Max Verstappen downplayed any suggestions of title pressure ahead of the 2021 Mexican GP. His comments were in response to Lewis Hamilton’s suggestions that his title protagonist is young and could be weighed down by the pressure of claiming his first title.
The Red Bull Racing driver also shrugged off any comparison between title clashes of the past and his own this season, in response to Toto Wolff’s recent comments to the Daily Mail.
Speaking ahead of the 2021 Mexican GP, Hamilton had said:
“I know Max has not won a championship in a long, long, long time, so I know what it’s like going for your first championship, particularly in this sport. I know the pressures that come with that, and so, it’s nothing less than [what] I expected from him.”
"If the car is capable, I will win": Max Verstappen
In response to the Hamilton’s remarks, Verstappen said:
“I like what I’m doing, you know? So that takes the pressure off. It’s not the first time I’ve been in a championship fight. Yes [it’s the] first time in F1 but not in my life so that doesn’t really change because you need to win, and that’s what I’ve been doing in the past as well, so I need to strive to do the same here.”
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Commenting on the title battle, Verstappen summed it up by saying:
“Like I‘ve said already [in] previous races: when the car is capable of winning I’ll win; if the car is not capable of winning, I won’t win.”
Despite the Dutchman’s remarks about the abilities of his car, he remains one of the few drivers on the grid who proved he could be competitive even with mediocre equipment at his disposal.
Mercedes boss Wolff had earlier speculated that the two title protagonists would likely cross swords on the track again, comparing it to the infamous clash between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1990. In response to the Austrian’s comments, Verstappen said:
“I don’t really think about previous historic fights between two drivers, what they have done – that’s the past.”
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Commenting on his own on-track rivalry, Verstappen said:
“I just focus on what I have to do on track and that’s to try and do the best I can, and that’s how, at the end of the day, you’re going to win the championship: you have to try and get the most available points out there and, of course, try to beat your rival.”
Returning to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, where the Dutchman has won two races, he seemed cautiously optimistic for the weekend ahead. Stressing the need to ensure attention to detail, Verstappen explained:
“I’ve said before, it’s all about details. You can look good on paper, but you still have to nail your set-up and all the combinations around it.”
On a circuit where Red Bull Racing are the clear favorites, Verstappen avoided mounting massive expectations, citing the unpredictability of momentum this season. Concluding his views for the weekend ahead, the Red Bull Racing driver said:
“It might look good for us, but we have to again be on it from FP1 onwards and make sure we are in the right direction with the car.”
After his comments at Thursday's drivers' press conference, Verstappen was among the top-three quickest cars in the first free practice session and went on to dominate FP2. Friday's on-track action in Mexico concluded with the Dutchman edging out the rest of the field by 0.4 seconds and laying down the gauntlet for now.