Max Verstappen declared himself “happy” with his performance in 2020, even if results didn’t meet pre-season expectations.
The Dutchman was the only real threat to the dominance of Mercedes throughout the year, claiming two wins and finishing just nine points behind Valtteri Bottas in third in the Drivers’ standings.
And reflecting on his season at last weekend’s Abu Dhabi finale, which he won, Verstappen did see this year as a continuation of his progression.
“Even though last year was pretty good, there were things we could have done better and in general that has been consistency, knowing when to take risks, when not, starts, Lap 1, staying out of trouble, keeping your car in one [piece] – these kind of things,” he commented via Formula1.com.
“I don’t think it’s general speed because I think, the speed when you join Formula 1, you are always fast, but experience makes you a better driver.
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“Looking at my own performances, I can be happy with that. I think I improved compared to the year before and that’s what you want; you always want to become better,” he explained.
“A few good results, nice podiums.
“Of course at the beginning of the season we expected – we wanted – to fight for the championship, which didn’t happen,” Verstappen acknowledged, “but then I think quite quickly we… were trying to understand the car, why it was not performing the way we wanted to, and we tried to improve it, which I think we did.
“But we had a few retirements as well, and still, of course, Mercedes were the dominant team but in general we still had a good season and had fun.”
Victory in Abu Dhabi, a Mercedes stronghold since 2014, has raised hopes that Red Bull will be able to take the fight to the German manufacturer next year.
But to do that, Verstappen highlighted one weakness that needs to be addressed.
“I hope we learn from the previous years that we have to be stronger in the beginning of the season to give them a bit of a harder time,” he stated.
“We know we have to work hard over the winter to keep getting stronger because you can’t rely on this result [winning in Abu Dhabi]. We know we have to improve the car and we know the areas, but I hope we learn from the last few years.
“We go into the winter with a good feeling. It’s always nice to win the last race, especially with a year like this year, it’s been hard on everyone. I just hope we learn from our mistakes at the beginning of the year.”
But Red Bull boss Christian Horner is confident the usual early-season weakness can be avoided due to the limits on development which have been imposed.
“I certainly hope so, because it’s not a start from scratch again,” Horner told Motorsport.com
“Obviously a large percentage of the car does carry over, so where we start in Barcelona [testing] in a couple of months’ time, is going to be pretty much where we finish here with the relevant upgrades on it.
“It’s the first time in F1’s history [that this has happened], and it is why we called the new car, 16B, as opposed to 17, because there’s so much of it that is carry-over.
“Probably about 60% of the car is carry-over.”