Verstappen: ''I'd hand over half my money for those world titles''

"I always have the will to win and I always will. Nobody has to worry about that. That's how I was programmed and born. I can't relax until I retire,'' says Verstappen in an interview with The Guardian. All that money isn't that important to Verstappen either. He would like to trade that in.

Verstappen wants to win

"I'd rather be five-time world champion and earn half of what I have now. I'm here to win. Money doesn't make me happy when I'm in tenth place. You can say anything and everything when you're standing next to the track, but at the end of the day it's what happens on the track that counts. I learned that at a very young age.''

Many see a title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen in 2020. With this, Verstappen could put the six-time world champion under a little more pressure again, where Hamilton could seemingly easily take the title in recent years. ''I would love that," says Verstappen.

Verstappen hunts Hamilton

"Winning is the best there is, then there's no pressure. I like that. The more fights on the track, the better. It may all be a little closer together, so more teams and drivers are fighting for the title. Then it will be tough for Lewis too,'' say Verstappen, from whom we don't have to expect any mental games.

''I don't need it at all to get Lewis out of his comfort zone. As a rider, you always have to believe in yourself. That's no arrogance, but if you don't believe you'll succeed, you never will. You do need self-confidence to make it'', concludes Verstappen.