World champion Max Verstappen admitted on Thursday that his Red Bull team had learned from “a few wrong phone calls” during the recent Austrian Grand Prix and would take another fierce scratch for victory in Sunday’s French race. Ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix, the 24-year-old Dutchman added that he hoped that Mercedes, revitalized by a new package of upgrades, would not participate in the expected battle with Ferrari for victory. “Maybe they are (a threat),” he replied, when asked about a challenge from seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. “I hope not!”
Red Bull and Ferrari have won all 11 races this year, but Mercedes hopes their revival will continue on the smooth, fast-turning track.
Verstappen leads the title race 208 points ahead of his closest rival Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at 170, the Monegasque driver has revived his challenge with victory in Austria a week after team-mate Carlos Sainz won the British race.
“In retrospect, I think we made some wrong calls in Austria,” he told reporters. “But of course with a sprint weekend format it’s very difficult to change that (car setup) after the first free practice and I think we learned a lot from it.
“I think our top speed was still good, but in the corners if you lose a little more than you’d like, it’s always going to be a tough day and that’s what happened.
“I hope with the things we’ve learned we’ll be back to normal form – but even if we’re in normal form I think it will still be very tight for a race win. So I expect the same here.”
Verstappen said he expected Ferrari to be strong again as they try to complete a first hat-trick since 2019 and acknowledged Hamilton could also compete at the front after taking three consecutive podiums.
Hamilton confirmed on Thursday that he remains optimistic about claiming a win this year so that he can maintain his unique record as the only driver to have won a race in every season of his career.
After a disappointing start to the season, Mercedes have regained speed and consistency with their upgrades and are arriving at the Paul Ricard circuit in high spirits, hoping the smooth, fast and fluid layout will suit their car.
“I’m working on getting that win and I believe at some point we’ll be able to compete with these guys, whether that’s this weekend or in five races,” said Hamilton.
“The journey is the most important part. We didn’t start where we wanted to be, we made progress and we started to achieve a degree of consistency.
promoted
“If we go back to where we deserve to be, I think we’ll appreciate it all the more.”
Hamilton will start his 300th Formula 1 race on Sunday, making him only the sixth driver to reach that total.
Topics mentioned in this article
