Verstappen admits to feeling demotivated in 2024 season: 'We stepped up'
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Max Verstappen has admitted to feeling demotivated in the 2024 season. Although Verstappen sowed up his world title in Las Vegas, it's been a difficult year for The Red Bull Racing team. Seven drivers on the grid secured multiple race wins this season, with the Dutchman winning 10 fewer races than he did in 2023. Despite the trials and tribulations that Verstappen discusses, he's indicated that his team has only got stronger this year.
The Dutchman faced a lot more competition in 2023. At the Miami Grand Prix, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes made things difficult for Verstappen and Red Bull. After he won seven out of the first 10 acres, he then didn't win the next 10. Still, he survived the storm due to his early points haul, dealing the final blow to the closest challenger, Lando Norris, in Brazil, as he won in the rain from P17. At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Verstappen clinched his fourth world title after outscoring the Brit.
Verstappen: 'I'm proud of how I dealt with it'
Verstappen admitted that this year has been much tougher than the previous two, where he dominated. "I've faced, again, different things, different challenges that I didn't have in the previous years for a lot of different reasons, but I think that is also part of your life. If every year is the same, it's very boring. So I'm just very proud with how I've dealt with it, and also with the team, how we've dealt with a lot of stuff and that we have overcome a lot of things as well," Verstappen began.
After the Spanish Grand Prix in June, Verstappen had a ten-race winless drought. The Dutchman struggled on multiple occasions in the RB20 and felt frustrated and drained. Still, he always held a comfortable lead in the driver's championship, mainly due to the inconsistency of the six other race winners this season.
Demotivation only made Verstappen stronger:
After the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen was completely worn out. The Dutchman was fighting for P5 and was nowhere near a podium. A failed pit stop and a strategy that did not work out meant that Verstappen was at a loss for words. Still, his team recovered well, as he pointed out. "It can also be very demotivating, of course, with the season that we had at one point, but that's exactly where you then have to step up and try to demand more, try to find more performance, because every person is very different in how they handle stress or pressure," the four-time world champion explained. "Some handle it a bit better than others, but I think it's very important that you always keep communicating and keep working, keep motivating people to try and get on top of things because it's not easy for me, but it's not easy for the other guys and people in general.
"In the factory, when you're having tough times, coming off a season that you [have] been dominating and then… I'm very proud of how we have handled all of that together, to go through that phase of very tough races." Verstappen concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Jeroen Immink
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