Max Verstappen touted what he described as “promising” recent Red Bull updates as he looks ahead to the final races of 2020 and 2021.
This season hasn’t lived up to the expectations many had for the Dutchman and his team, with just a single victory and four retirements in the opening 14 races, this as Mercedes have been utterly dominant once again.
Even so, Verstappen does still have a chance of beating Valtteri Bottas to second in the Drivers’ standings, with the current gap sitting at 27 points.
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But asked about that ‘battle’, Max wasn’t bothered.
“It doesn’t really matter, second or third,” he said in Bahrain on Thursday.
“I just want to have a good result. If it means that at the end you are third in the championship, but you had a few positive races to finish the season, I’m happy with that.”
Reflecting on why this season has been a disappointment, Verstappen admits Red Bull were simply caught out by the significant performance gains made by Mercedes.
“First race I think was quite clear that we were too far off,” he said. “Why? I mean, that I don’t know, because otherwise we would have changed already if we knew why.
“I think everyone is working very hard, there is no question about that. But a lot of teams are working very hard of course, and we still have some catching up to do, but it’s difficult to pinpoint why.”
Even so, Red Bull has gradually closed on Mercedes as the season progressed and looking forward, Verstappen is upbeat.
“We are still lagging behind Mercedes, although we have also tested a number of new parts and the results were promising,” he explained.
“So I’m just looking forward to come here to Bahrain, where of course we have a bit more information already with these cars and the last few years, so I just want to see how it works here but I’m confident that it can be good.”