The Dutchman from Red Bull is aiming for his first victory in Australia: “It can be done. I’m happy there’s a stoppage before Azerbaijan because the stomach problem has weakened me”. The Aston Martin Spaniard is instead in great shape: “What enthusiasm in Spain, I hope my podiums are liked”
March 30, 2023
– melbourne (australia)
Luckily he wasn’t well… Max Verstappen confessed today in Melbourne that the last race in Arabia wasn’t easy from a physical point of view. The intestinal infection that forced him to arrive a day late debilitated him to the point that, even if he was cured, the entire race weekend was not easy, with breathing problems and problems recovering from the effort that he had never experienced before. they still happened. Despite this, the Red Bull world champion battled Sergio Perez for the win right up to the last minute (despite starting from 15th on the grid), kept the championship lead by one point and is now in Melbourne to break the taboo of Australian track, one of the few where he hasn’t won yet. The last effort before a three-week break in view of Azerbaijan at the end of April, where he hopes to return fully recovered.
respiratory fatigue
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“In Arabia I thought I’d recovered – he said on Thursday at Albert Park – usually after 2-3 days of illness you’re fine and start training again. Instead, when I got into the car for free practice 1, I realized that even after just one lap it was as if I had done two to recover my breath in the normal way. I felt like I was missing a lung. The whole weekend was a bit conditioned, a bit frustrating. But I worked on it and this weekend I think it will be much better. Tracks like Jeddah are demanding, if you’ve physically caught a virus or something like that, they tire you even more. Luckily there’s a break now, I have a recovery program to get back in shape”.
goal first win
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What is Red Bull expecting in Melbourne? “I think we have a good chance of doing well – said Max – here last year it didn’t go well, but then we immediately understood where to make the set-up adjustments and we made great strides forward with reliability”. The Dutchman is unimpressed about the fact that he has never won here: “In recent years we have never been so good at the beginning of the year, so I think that if this race had taken place at a different time on the calendar, probably we would have had better results”.
enthusiasm alonso
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The closest opponent in terms of performance seems to be Fernando Alonso with Aston Martin, present at the press conference with Max, who last year surpassed the Spaniard’s record of 32 victories (he now stands at 36): “I think Fernando deserved to win many more than 32, in a certain sense I wouldn’t mind seeing him win more either”. Fernando Alonso thanked him and told of how in Spain there is a great and newfound interest in F1 thanks to him: “It’s crazy to see how Spain is so enthusiastic again for Formula 1 and for everything that is happening – said the two-times world champion from Aston Martin – so it’s great to see and I hope they have enjoyed these first two podium finishes across the country.”
alonso, say 33…
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Spain that wants this victory number 33 for the Iberian: “This victory number 33 is also much talked about on social media – said Alonso – all the football teams or players or tennis or whatever they always do something with number 33. So we hope to be able to reach that number in terms of victories and then aim for 34″. 33 has always been Verstappen’s race number, but he now races with the no.1, having won the title and wanting to take advantage of the prerogative to use the 1 which belongs to the reigning champion.Alonso made a proposal: “If he’s still using the number 1, maybe I’ll ask to be able to use the 33 next year,” he joked.
March 30, 2023 – 12:12
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