Max Verstappen admits there are “no guarantees” he will repeat his dominant win a week ago at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman led every lap in the first leg of Formula 1’s doubleheader at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, crossing the finish line 35 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton for his third victory in four races.
However, Verstappen is ready for a response from Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, while teams also have a different challenge to overcome.
“I expect it to be a tougher fight. There are no guarantees in this sport and we have to keep improving,” he said via Formula1.com on Thursday.
“We have to make sure that now with the softer compounds we again have a good car with a good balance and of course, people learn from their mistakes last week.”
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Over the past week, there have been the first murmurings about whether Mercedes can fight back against Red Bull, as the two teams balance optimising this year while also maximising their potential for the new rules in 2022.
But Verstappen doesn’t think the winners of the past seven championships will sacrifice that streak.
“I don’t expect them to give up, but rather fight until the end,” he told RacingNews365.com. “I think you always have to keep pushing and then at the end of the season we’ll see where we are.
“We were faster at this circuit [Red Bull Ring], but not so much in France. We have to look at each circuit. It’s still a long season, we haven’t completed that many races and we have to wait and see which way things will fall.”
Another boost for this weekend is a potential crowd of 60,000 heading to the track on Sunday, many of whom are likely to be wearing orange.
“I think we really missed that atmosphere around the tracks,” Verstappen said. “So I’m happy, of course, that there are more fans allowed now.
“I know there are a lot of Dutch fans coming as well so it will be a great support. Of course, I hope that we can have a great weekend.”