Red Bul Contentpool
F1 News
Verstappen still sees the positives in Baku after gap to Norris narrows
Max Verstappen was not thinking about winning the Azerbaijan GP after qualifying, as the Dutchman's main goal changed to finishing ahead of Lando Norris. Even as the Briton started no less than ten places behind Verstappen, he still finished ahead of the Red Bull driver. A missed opportunity, he admitted afterwards to GPblog, among others.
Indeed, Norris finished the race in P4, while Verstappen crossed the line one place behind in P5, moreover, Norris also earned the additional point for the fastest lap of the race. However, Verstappen still managed to find something positive following the race in Baku.
"You can also turn it around. I think they could have done a better job as well. It's what it is. I think we learned a lot. The car did feel a bit better than what we had before. With the setup, maybe we went the wrong way. We'll try to do better," said Verstappen, as the Dutchman's lead in the championship now stands at 59 points ahead of Norris.
Verstappen saw Red Bull improve
What is fortunate for the Dutchman is that now, repeat winners are not really common in F1. "I guess in a way, [it is an advantage]. But I don't like to, of course, always be P6 myself. So we need to do a bit better. I think today already showed that, for example, with Checo, when he was a bit happier, the car was performing a bit better, we are in that fight.."
"Okay, maybe we didn't win, but we were in that fight with Checo. So, I think from now onwards, we can be in that fight constantly if we keep improving the car step by step, a little bit after our findings on Monza," concluded the championship leader in the Azerbaijan paddock.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!