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Verstappen ups the stakes: 'If updates don't work well, then I don't know'
- Nicole Mulder
Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing used to be favourites for every Grand Prix, but the picture has changed in recent months. Once again, Verstappen and Red Bull are not clear favourites for victory this weekend in Hungary. The Dutchman clarifies that what matters now is not so much how close the competition is, but how close Red Bull are behind. However, Verstappen is hopeful about the updates his team has brought and warns his rival teams.
Verstappen draws hope from Red Bull updates
Asked how close he expects McLaren and Mercedes to be, Verstappen replied: "I think you can turn it around. How close can we be to the competition? I think the last few races, we have not had the quickest car so I don't expect that to suddenly now be any different. We'll bring upgrades so. So hopefully that will give it a good boost. I just want to try and see how that will work this weekend."
Red Bull introduced updates earlier in the season, including a new floor at Silverstone. However, Verstappen could not use this in the race as he had suffered damage to the part the day before. "We brought stuff but they were not particularly big I would say. This is bigger than we have brought already so for everybody this is an important weekend," he explained.
Things will really come to a head now, according to Verstappen. "If this is not giving us some good lap time, then I don't know of course how the rest of the season is going to evolve. We just focus on ourselves and we are bringing parts to the car and I hope that will give us a good lap time," the three-time world champion concluded.