Max Verstappen is expecting a closer battle with Mercedes at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
The Dutchman is on a run of four wins in five races since Monaco and dominated the recent doubleheader in Austria.
Verstappen also won the second race at Silverstone last year, but on a circuit that most expect to better suit Mercedes, there’s no guarantee his recent success will continue.
“They’re bringing upgrades, so naturally I think if they work, they [will be] closer,” said Verstappen, who enjoys a 32-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship.
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“We are very focused, just ready for the race weekend again. Of course, we’ve been happy with the last few races but we always look at things we could do better and that’s what we’ll try and do this weekend again.
“We have to wait and see. At the moment, I don’t really know [how competitive Red Bull will be],” he added.
“The format we have this weekend, it’s going to be a little bit different. I expect us to be competitive but difficult to say where we will end up. I am looking forward to it.”
When it comes to the British GP, despite Verstappen’s win at Silverstone last year, Hamilton has actually won six of the last seven years, including his dramatic 2020 victory despite a puncture on the final lap.
But after Red Bull won at another previously dominant Mercedes track at Paul Ricard last month, Max was asked if victory this weekend would install his team as F1’s new dominant force?
“We’ve had already proper tests before,” he said. “So it’s just another weekend which we try to win. If we can, we will win, and if we can’t then we’ll finish somewhere else.”
As Verstappen noted, this weekend also sees F1 trial the new Sprint Qualifying format for the first time, consisting of qualifying on Friday, a 17-lap Sprint Qualifying on Saturday and then the race itself on Sunday.
“I am not for it or against it at the moment, I will just let it happen and see how it will work out,” he said, offering his view.
“For the race, you try to win it. It’s three points extra you can get so you definitely try to win it even though you know on a Sunday it’s the most important race. We first need to do a weekend like this then we can properly judge everything.
“I always say that we always have to work on trying to put the car in the best possible state on the track in terms of setup and with the change of format it will be a bit more difficult to nail that.
“I am looking forward to starting the weekend and then we will find out by itself where we are.”