Having signed a new contract, Max Verstappen now wants the return of Red Bull domination in Formula 1.
The Dutchman was expected to be the biggest player in the 2021 driver market but caught everyone off guard with a rapid renewal at the Anglo-Austrian team until the end of 2023.
This as Red Bull now appear a much more potent threat with Honda power for the next two years at least and Max sees a determination to finally bring Mercedes’ reign to an end.
“It’s just very nice to be in the team, it is really enjoyable, a lot of fun, which I think is also important in the team,” he told Motorsport. “Everybody gets along very well with each other and we all want to win, we have the winners’ mentality.
“Everybody at the track and back at the factory, they are also motivated to show everyone that we can get back to those winning days of Red Bull dominating. We just want to try and recreate that.
“We’re all working on the same target. It is winning races, winning the championship.”
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Heading into 2020, there is an expectation that the top three teams, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, will go toe-to-toe for the F1 title.
But after falling short of his prediction of five wins last year, Helmut Marko now thinks the team can exceed it this season.
“One of the reasons [we didn’t win five races is] that we have been involved in quite a few unfortunate situations and collisions,” he was quoted by F1i.com.
“On the other hand, we were also a little late in the development of the car, the Honda engine and chassis only began to improve later in the season.
“I’m sure the year 2020 will be different,” he added. “I don’t want to pin down to a specific number [of wins] but I think it should be more than five.”
And as for the prospects of fighting for the championship…
“We want to fight for the World Championship and we know that we have to be competitive with the chassis right from the start,” Marko told Motorsport-Total.
“Honda has made gains for next year, so after everything that has been achieved so far, we assume that this will happen.
“That means we have no excuses,” he concluded.