Verstappen looks ahead: 'I would rather have a straightforward race'

Tens of thousands of fans will populate the grandstands of the Zandvoort circuit, located by the dunes, over the next few days. Verstappen was therefore asked the logical question during the press conference: how does it feel to be Max Verstappen with all the support around? "I don't wish that on anyone!", Verstappen began with a joke. "No, it's a great weekend for me to come to. It is  great to see all the fans next to the track. And it's also an amazing track to drive, so all of those things together makes it a fun weekend."

Twelve Grands Prix have been run, just as many times Red Bull managed to win. With the drivers' and constructors' world titles already in sight, the reins might just slip. Still, there are plenty of goals left. "Just, well, try to keep on doing the same thing," the two-time champion responded. "That would be nice. But of course, after a break, you never know how you get back into things. Also, the track and also the weather. What is forecast, I think it is always a bit more tricky. But we'll see. We have a quick car. But it's again about putting everything together to have a really strong weekend."

In any case, Verstappen is not worried about necessarily having to continue his team's unbeaten run. "I don't think we really think about it too much, because we just want to look ahead and try to always bring the best possible car to the track. I think everyone is always trying to prepare in that way. And yeah, of course, we want to win here. There's no secret about that."

Verstappen would like to win comfortably

In recent seasons, Red Bull had a formidable opponent in Mercedes at Zandvoort. If Verstappen could choose between an easy win or a battle with - say - Mercedes, he would go for the former: "No, I mean, I would rather, of course, have a very straightforward race all the time. But that only happens maybe once or twice in your career in a year, that you have a season like that. But again, we're also racing drivers once, the teams are a lot closer, you are racing then. For me, that's also fine. But of course, it's always a bit more relaxing to win it more comfortably."