Verstappen not afraid of competition: 'We have some work to do'

Verstappen looks positive after Belgian Grand Prix

Verstappen could not easily make his way through the entire field towards P1 like in 2022, but according to the Dutchman himself, that was not only because of his RB20. "The balance of the car wasn’t too bad always in the first few laps, but of course, I also ran a lot in traffic which probably also didn't help. But we were just not faster than the cars around us, and then you just get stuck in that DRS train. I think as a team, we maximised the performance today. Naturally, if you start P1 with the pace that we had, I think you're fighting for the win regardless. But starting P11, I knew that it was always going to be a damage limitation race. Of course, looking at the championship, it was still a positive day. I extended my lead where it could have also easily been calculating losses, so from that side, of course, it's a positive day," the three-time world champion said.

In doing so, Verstappen does realise that the competition has made huge strides. While McLaren and Ferrari were close to Red Bull at the beginning of the season, Mercedes have come a long way with three wins in the last four races. "I think it shifts a little bit for sure. Constantly, McLaren have been really quick. Mercedes have been quick but not everywhere, and from our side, yeah we have a bit of work to do. We know that we have a few things to analyse as well as what to do with the car for the remainder of the season. But on the other hand, of course, having an engine penalty, I think if all of the cars had that, their race would also look very different. So it's not very fair to fully look at my race coming from P11. Because if you just start with them, the race is very different," Verstappen added.

Verstappen is at the top of the standings during the summer break. The gap between him and Norris currently stands at 78 points.