Page 68 - Sharp Summer 2021

Thankfully, Verstappen can bank on more support from his new teammate, Sergio Pérez, who Red Bull Racing drafted af- ter Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon wilted under the pressure of matching the Dutchman in qualifying. Pérez is an F1 veteran — 2021 is his 11th season in the sport — who is taking his shot at the top with both hands. The Mexican got the call-up after winning last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix from last place. And he’s delivering for the team, even outqualifying Verstappen at Imola — an important achievement that leaves the Dutchman in need of a strong rear gunner for strategic options to out- smart Hamilton’s Silver Arrows. “Yeah, I think that’s going quite well,” Verstappen says of his new teammate. “From my side, I think he’s a very nice guy, he fits very well into the team, and we’ll just try to make it more difficult for Mercedes now in the coming races.”
And Red Bull is strengthening in other ways, too. With its power unit partner, Honda, set to pull out of the sport at the end of 2021, the team is taking on its own engine development program, extending its own facilities. It has even poached a number of staff from Mercedes to get up to speed. “It’s quite normal,” says Verstappen of Red Bull taking the next step in its F1 journey and becoming just the second team, after Ferra- ri, to develop chassis and engine “under one roof” — namely, its Milton Keynes base. “If you want to do well, and you’re seeing such a dominant force [like Mercedes], you will always try to find a few people to strengthen your team, and that’s what we are doing. So for me, that’s not really a surprise. It’s more a must, to be more competitive.”
Naturally, responses like this make you think he’s either playing it down, or just ultra-serious. But Verstappen knows what he wants — and sees he’s getting that, finally, after years of sitting behind a Mercedes. So, ask if there’s a buzz in the factory, given the competitiveness of the car, and it’s straight back to thinking about the long game. “It’s good, and you can get excited for a bit. But we just have to keep on working, because it’s nice to be competitive,” says Verstap- pen. “We can’t live in the moment. We always have to work harder and try to be better.”
The biggest question long-term is whether Verstappen will stay with Red Bull; rumours persist that he will one day jump ship to Mercedes and replace Hamilton, who is now in the twilight of his career. (It’s the same hopeful rumours that once projected Hamilton moving to Ferrari.) But why would Verstappen move now? Red Bull is only getting stronger, and his team is custom-fitted to him like a Savile Row suit. To- gether, they’re fighting for the greatest prize in motorsport. “That’s what we are trying to do already, of course, this year,” he says. “And we’ll try to do that for a long time. I feel good in the team, and this is exactly what we want, and what we also agreed to for the future. So, of course, it’s always hard to pic- ture a year where that’s finally going to happen. Of course, we wish it had already [happened], but we are on a good track, and hopefully we can do this together for a long time.”
It’s been a long and winding road to the 2021 title fight, but Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen are ready for it. It’s game on.
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PIT STOP:
How does it feel knowing you’re going to be fighting for pole position and the win at almost every round?
For us, it’s a great start and we know it’s still a long season. So we can’t afford any mistakes, and we just have to keep on trying to score good points every single weekend. And, basically, so far, we’ve done that. So I’m pretty pleased with that.
In late June, you head to Austria for two races at the Red Bull Ring. You have won there twice
(2018 and 2019). Which is your favourite victory?
I think the second one, because of the start. I had the anti-stall kick in, and then coming through the field [from seventh] on a track where it’s hard to pass. And in general, it was the first victory for Honda in the hybrid era. So it was nice; it was really enjoyable. Of course, we also [had to wait for] the stewards’ decision [after an aggressive overtake for the lead on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that was cleared], and that took away from it. But it was definitely a good one.
Later in July is the British Grand Prix. The two rac- es at Silverstone were so different last year, with the British Grand Prix all about those chaotic final two laps [both Mercedes cars had tire blowouts], and then you won the 70th Anniversary race com- fortably. What was that like for you?
It was a double-header, and the first one [the British Grand Prix] was a bit boring for me. I was in third and then everything went crazy in the last two laps. But
we basically over-performed there getting into second place. And then we had the right strategy with the tires on the second weekend. It seemed like our car was handling the tires a bit better in the heat. That’s how we could win in a season where Mercedes was, of course, very dominant, especially in the beginning and the middle of the season.