Max happy with P2 in championship but 'aims for one position higher'

Published on 13 August 2020 by Stefan Meens

After winning the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone last week, Max Verstappen is excited for the next race, this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.

“Last week at Silverstone, the conditions were fairly extraordinary. We used the softer tyres, which seems to work better for us and not so much for other teams. But in general, nothing has really changed compared to last week. We still lack speed in qualifying. Of course, I’m happy with second in the championship but the aim is one position higher. We know we can improve; both in terms of car and engine there is more to gain.”

Similar to Silverstone, the Spanish Grand Prix weekend is set to be contested in temperatures around the thirty-degree mark. “For us that’s always good. But we don’t know how the tyres will do for everyone, if they keep well or if they will blister. We’ll have to wait and see, but to close the gap to Mercedes, we need to improve our overall package.”

In general F1 news, the FIA have announced that the so-called power-unit ‘party modes’ for qualifying will be banned from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. Max: “In in a way, maybe it’s good because we are not really allowed to touch the car after qualifying except those kind of things with engine modes. So probably, if you want to go down that route by not touching the car then I think it’s good that you maybe get rid of that as well.”

Spanish GP contest: win a 1:43 Max Verstappen Spain RB14 scale model!