Verstappen dissatisfied with RB20 and not himself: 'Can't complain'

Fans with weekend tickets to the Austrian Grand Prix, who had access to the traditional pit walk this Thursday, gathered en masse in front of the first pit box - that of Red Bull Racing. Most wore team shirts or were wearing orange. Max Verstappen is the big focus at Red Bull Racing.

Expectations among the Austrians and the Dutch are, therefore, sky-high: a win - and nothing less than that - is what is being called for on Sunday. Or is it mostly hoped for? The fact is that Red Bull Racing no longer has the fastest car in the field, and a win is no longer a foregone conclusion.

Verstappen wants improvement from Red Bull

While the fans gazed outside at the F1 cars, Max Verstappen - as in Spain - was critical. Things must improve. He first expressed this during the international press conference, only to repeat it in smaller company with the Dutch press: "If we start thinking this is normal, people will catch up with us," Verstappen said, for example.

Hard times at Red Bull, then, although George Russell seemed to wave that suggestion away a little later during Mercedes' press moment. "They’ve won seven of the first ten races. It doesn’t look too difficult," he said. But, of course, that was a form of scoreboard journalism. The fact Red Bull also won at Barcelona, for example, was due to Verstappen's exceptional class rather than Red Bull.

Verstappen makes the most of the RB20

Or as Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff put it after the Spanish Grand Prix: "Max Verstappen wins races, not Red Bull." When GPblog asked if Verstappen agreed with this statement, the Dutchman responded, "I must say that I do feel good with the car this year, and I can really get the maximum out. I think you can see that in qualifying as well. Last year we had quite a dominant car and it didn't always come out in qualifying. And that has worked out better so far."

Anyway, there is a measure that shows that Verstappen is indeed excelling this season: "If you generally look at the gaps between the two drivers, I don't think I can complain," Verstappen was referring to the consistently large margin between him and his teammate Sergio Perez. "I don't have the idea that things are running a lot less on the other side of the garage. The way our car is now - because it's all so close - it all has to be perfect to get to the ultimate result."

So, in other words, it is really Verstappen who makes the difference this season. But again, Verstappen did not want to answer that with a 'yes' or 'no'. "I feel good with the car yes. I do think I have performed well so far. I'm always critical of myself, there are always things that could be better and I also always look back at all the races, things that maybe we could have tackled better in a weekend. But overall, of course, we also have to make sure we get the car better."