Column Jos Verstappen - Three very long weeks

Published on 08 May 2015 by Niels Hendrix

Jos Verstappen is still the Netherlands most successful Formula 1 driver. This season he shares his opinions regarding the sport via a column in Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf. Below the latest edition.

“To be honest, three weeks is a bit to long for me. Particularly after the disappointment in Bahrain, you want to bounce back as soon as possible. On the other hand, the team has had extra time to fix the issues with Max’ car.

I really hope they managed to turn things around. In Formula 1 you have to keep improving, otherwise you’ll slip down the order. That’s why all the teams are spending so much energy in developing the cars throughout the season. Personally, I can’t wait for the Spanish Grand Prix. It means you have a chance to deal with the terrible thought “I won’t finish the race”, even though you’re fighting for points.

Like the car, Max needs to try to improve as well. So far he’s done a great job in the first race, even tough the issues with the car prevented him from finishing three out of four times. He showed some good stuff but also had to deal with some disappointments. From the latter he learns a lot.

I’m hopeful of a good result in the first European Grand Prix although it’s hard to predict. We’ll have to await the Friday free practice sessions before we can judge the improvements, especially the engine modifications. The power unit really needs the attention as the other teams will bring along updates to their cars as well. Red Bull might surprise a few folk and McLaren announced their Honda engine is on track to be competitive.

The problems encountered in Australia, Asia and the Middle East should normally be fixed ahead of the Spanish round. So I’m hoping Toro Rosso have been able to do so. Personally I don’t know a lot about the changes and progress made. The team doesn’t really to talk about that and looking at my position I didn’t think it would be wise to pester them about it.

The atmosphere at the Circuit de Catalunya is great. The weather is lovely and there is a lot of extra press, especially from the Netherlands. It’s also amazing to see so many of Max’ fans make the effort to come out to Spain. It’s really a source of inspiration so it would be great to see Max take another step forward this weekend."

Jos Verstappen

Source: De Telegraaf/Telesport