Max Verstappen says off-track drama not affecting performance
Max Verstappen says the off-track controversies surrounding Red Bull are not distracting from performances, after taking another comfortable victory in the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Red Bull repeated its one-two finish from the first race in Bahrain with a similar display in Jeddah, although Charles Leclerc took the point for the fastest lap as he finished third Saturday. The result comes amid a backdrop of infighting at Red Bull – with Helmut Marko stating his future was uncertain Friday and Verstappen backing the Austrian – but the championship leader is impressed with how resilient the team has proved to be.
“I always said that what is most important is that we work together as a team and that everyone keeps the peace,” Verstappen said. “And that’s what we, I think, all agree on within the team. So hopefully from now on that is also fully the case. Everyone is trying to focus in the same direction.
“And I think the positive out of all this is that it didn’t hurt our performances. So it’s a very strong team. I think also mentally, what you can see from not only [the] driver’s side, but also mechanics, engineers, everyone is there to do their job. I think everyone, even when there is stuff going on or whatever, they’re just very focused on their job as they should be.”
Verstappen’s victory is his 19th in the past 20 races and sees him reach three figures in terms of podiums, but he jokes that the landmark in his 188th race means he’s missed out on too many.
“It’s 88 missed podiums!” he quipped. “No, of course, very happy with that. But I’m not really a guy looking at the stats, so I’m just happy to hit 100, but I want to continue and just focus race-by-race on achieving the best possible result all the time.
“I think it was a very good race. Of course, after that first stint with the safety car, we had to box. I knew that it was going to be a very long stint to the end, but it was the same for most of us. I think we just managed the pace very well to the end.
“The whole weekend, the car has been performing really well, probably a little bit better than expected, even. And yeah, overall, very pleased to win here.”