Sakhir (dpa) – Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is even more greedy for further successes after his first world title.
“The motivation is the same and even higher because you want to keep winning,” said the 24-year-old Dutchman before the first Grand Prix of the year on Sunday (4 p.m. CET / Sky) in Bahrain. His first Formula 1 title took a certain load off him. “That pressure of wanting and needing it is gone, but we want to keep winning races,” emphasized Verstappen, who is starting this season with the number one for the champion.
Verstappen has no worries about complacency. “I grew up in such a way that that can’t happen,” he assured on Thursday, referring to the well-known strictness of his father Jos, Michael Schumacher’s former Formula 1 teammate. “My father made sure that this didn’t happen.”
After questionable decisions by the race directors in the Abu Dhabi final in December, Verstappen only snatched the world championship from Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on the last lap. He doesn’t feel pressured to prove himself. “No, I proved it with the most wins, the most poles and the most laps in the lead. People forget that because they only look at Abu Dhabi. But we have more races than just Abu Dhabi this season,” said Verstappen.
The Dutchman wants to keep improving his level. “It will be very difficult to do something like that again, but you always try to do better. I hope that when we have a very competitive car, we can do something similar,” said Verstappen.