Max: “Get back in and get the best out of it. It’s that simple”

Published on 31 August 2017 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen looks calm, without any trace of resignation in his demeanor during the interview with the Dutch and international press at Monza Thursday afternoon. He seems to have left his DNF at the Belgian GP behind of him. “You always try to stay as positive and as calm as possible. You get back in the car and try to get the best out of it. It’s that simple”, says Max.

“It is not so easy to resolve the problems, but we’ll try again in Monza. Actually, I’ve had problems all season long, so at a certain point you learn to manage it. You move on and try to stay positive. The only thing you can do, is remain fit and ready and extract the best out of the Friday and Saturday and hope that it all comes together come Sunday.”

Renault has, also personally, offered their apologies to Max. “I don’t need any apology. I want that the problems are taken care of. They are working on it, so we’ll see this weekend”, according to Max, who has no worries that his personal development will be affected by this all. “There is no pain there. Many Saturdays went very well and my race pace was, in general, also pretty well. When I dropped out, I was normally in a very good position. So I am still developing myself as a driver.”

It appears that your team mate Daniel Ricciardo often has issues on the Friday and Saturday and you on the Sunday. “I think that we both have problems on Friday and Saturday quite often. It’s not that I only have problems on Sunday.”

Looking forward at qualifying: how much of a challenge is Monza as a high speed circuit? “A qualifying lap on Monza is less challenging than in Monaco, but when you’re on the edge, everything is challenging and difficult.” Max enjoys the atmosphere on the Italian track. “It is nice to see all the tifosi, a lot of Ferrari fans of course, but all that enthusiasm is very nice.”

Max shares that it is still not clear how severe he will be penalised – Ricciardo as well – as a result of the engine changes. But it is more than likely that both of them will be somewhere at the back of the grid. Inside the FIA, voices are heard saying that this system needs to be changed. Max agrees: “The team or supplier of the power unit needs to be punished and not the driver. Slap them with a fine of a few millions. That will surely hurt and will be felt when poor work is delivered.”

Italian GP contest: win a 1:43 scalemodel of the halo test Italian GP 2016!