Max at Hungaroring press conference: "Hopefully a podium"
Published on 21 July 2016 by Stefan Meens
During Thursday’s FIA press conference prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen sat down next to Nico Rosberg. The two battled for second place a couple of times during the previous race at Silverstone.
“I really enjoyed both battles, the one on inters, and the one on the medium tyre. The car was performing really well, in both conditions. We know the car is very strong in the wet and I’m enjoying that. Once I passed Nico, you could see the real pace of the car. It was really strong. And even on the medium tyres, we held on pretty well” explained Max who also touched on his promotion from third to second after Rosberg was handed a time penalty. “It was a great result for the team.”
Despite starting the season at Scuderia Toro Rosso, Max appears comfortable in Red Bull’s RB12: “I think you always learn. For sure I’m feeling very confident in the car. Every time I jump in the car, I learn again and find new bits to improve the setup.”
Does a new team mean a different mentality? “Actually it’s not that different, because you approach your direct competitors as your main opponents, or the guy who is leading the race. You know who you can fight with or not, so for me it doesn’t really change. Only the blue flags are different. Before you were angry when you had to move out of the way, whereas now you are the one overtaking them. In fact, you get a bit angry with them because they are not moving out of the way”, says Max with a smile.
Regarding the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix, Max is motivated: “Our best chance was in Monaco, for sure. But here, our car can be very strong. I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend. So far the car has been pretty strong on tracks were we didn’t expect it to be that strong, so we just have to wait and see. It’s all about the setup now and how we can improve during the sessions. Hopefully we can be very close to Mercedes.”
Max also reflected on last year’s excellent fourth place finish in the Toro Rosso: “That was very good. Of course we had some luck to finish fourth, even with the drive through. It was a great weekend and I enjoyed that one a lot. However this year, we are aiming for more than fourth, hopefully the podium.”
So far the youngster has scored 90 points in his 2016 campaign, sitting in sixth in the championship. What are his ambitions? “We are pretty close but we will see where we’ll end up at the end of the season. It will be somewhere between third or sixth. You try to do the best possible job every race and then we will see after Abu Dhabi where we are.”
With his overtakes and excellent results, Max is becoming more and more popular, with fans worldwide adoring the Dutchman. “It’s great to have so many fans; hopefully we’ll get more and more!”
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