Max Verstappen can win the world championship as early as this coming weekend. To do so, however, the Dutchman not only has to win, but Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc have to finish no further than fourth and ninth position respectively. For Verstappen, it is clear that he wants to focus solely on his own performance.
The Red Bull Racing driver has never won at the Singapore circuit, but that could change this weekend. The past five races have all gone to Verstappen and he knows no stopping for now.
"We just try to have a good weekend. To win it here would be nice but not something I am thinking about," Verstappen told Sky Sports and others during the press conference. "For me, it doesn't feel a lot different to last year. As a team we have been strong after the retirements we had at the beginning of the year that we had to get on top of. Most of our races we have maximised and done a good job. But we always look into things we can do better."
Verstappen additionally addressed a possible new chassis, which does not seem to be coming. "We made a deal if we won in Monza we keep the same chassis. I was like shall I lift and finish second or should I actually win the race. We were joking about that before the race, but I won it so I keep it."
Whilst the British media twists in the wind almost singularly focusing on a Red Bull top secret new chassis made of alien materials only known to Adrian Newey, Max decides to have a bit of fun and keep them speculating that ORB is coming with some major updates. Who in their right mind thinks the team is going to make expensive upgrades when every minor tweak they make puts them either on par with or faster than larger upgrades from their competitors. They can legitimately be working on next year's car. You can bet very few teams have that luxury. Sorry Britain. Red Bull isn't going to break the rules for you. Your hopes and dreams will be double dashed this year
He is so far ahead of the rest of the field and guaranteed a championship that there is no need to bring any more updates to make the car even faster. Just keep that upgrade for next year .....
Nah bring on the upgrade, lapping Lewis is the next record
That has already happened at the Emilia Romagna GP in April this year…. So that ‘record’ is already done. I am just looking forward to seeing Russell do so. Thought that was going to happen at Monaco when Alonso was 3 seconds a lap slower and was holding up most of the field, more than half a lap behind the leading few cars, but it never happened. ?