Max Verstappen spots Norris vs Piastri ‘distraction’ as Red Bull ‘all in’ on title opportunity

Max Verstappen says he’d like to have the “distraction” that the two McLaren drivers currently face, due to them having a faster car.

The four-time F1 World Champion has four race weekends left to catch and pass both McLaren drivers if he’s to make it a fifth consecutive Drivers’ Championship title.

Max Verstappen: Maybe there is distraction at McLaren

Having been over 100 points behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, a strong run of races with a resurgent RB21 has seen Verstappen’s faded championship challenge spark back to life.

With four race weekends to go, his deficit is down to 36 points – but this is to McLaren’s Lando Norris, who overtook Piastri’s points tally with a dominant victory in Mexico last time out.

The two McLaren drivers have been of much and a muchness when it comes to results this year, although it’s the British driver who has produced better results of late.

The Woking-based squad, led by team boss Andrea Stella under CEO Zak Brown, has done its utmost to give its two drivers equal opportunity and fairness as they strive for a maiden title, meaning that the two drivers can take points away from each other, further helping Verstappen’s quest.

With no sign of McLaren opting to choose a driver to throw its weight behind and reduce the chances of Verstappen stealing the title away from them, Verstappen said it’s entirely possible his two championship rivals could be distracted by each other, but he’d still rather be in their place than his.

“In a way, of course, it’s nice, you know, but being part of the team already, for a very long time, you get to know each other really well,” he told the media in Brazil, when asked if he prefers being with a Red Bull team that is single-minded about supporting his championship ambitions.

“We’ve already had a lot of success together.

“So yeah, there is an opportunity that we can win it, so we are going for it all in. For sure, the distraction, maybe it’s a little bit there at McLaren between the two drivers, but, at the same time, they still have a very fast car.

“So, if you would tell me what I would like to have, give me the distraction. I don’t care anyway, just give me the fastest car and I’ll drive it as fast as it needs to be.

“It can be nice for me, but at the same time, we just need to make sure that we have a faster car. We need to be ahead of them. It’s as simple as that.”

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Max Verstappen: If this was 2023, I could close down the McLarens

While Red Bull’s performance with the RB21 has become more consistent through a steady flow of updates and tweaks to the car this year, McLaren showed the MCL39 remains a formidable machine with victory in Mexico.

Added to that is the occasional interruption of Mercedes and Ferrari, who Verstappen says could yet play a part in helping decide the championship.

“By being faster than them [McLaren]! That would be nice,” he said, when asked how the two other front-running teams could help his cause.

“But, first of all, we also need to be faster than them to the end of the season to close the gap down.

“So we’ll see. I mean, we had some good rounds where the gap came down. But now, to the end with four races, it’s still a pretty big gap. I need to score a lot more points every single weekend, which is not that straightforward.”

If the Red Bull had the pace advantage he enjoyed with his RB19 in 2023, Verstappen said, the task would be an easy one.

“I mean, if you would give me the 2023 season with how everything was, and you tell me I’m 36 points behind with four races to go, I’m like, ‘Yeah, no problem, easy’,” he said.

“But this season, of course, has been a little bit different. So it comes down to us optimising everything and nailing the weekend.

“Besides that, we probably need a little bit of luck on one round. You have to create a bigger offset, but we’re going to give it all.

“If that’s going to be enough at the end of the year, I don’t know, but there’s also not much to lose. I mean, worst case, we have P3, and best case, you can win a championship.”

Having come home in third place in Mexico, with his chase of second-placed Charles Leclerc ruined by a late-race Virtual Safety Car, Verstappen acknowledged that the performance at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez had not been good, and said he’s hopeful of a stronger showing this weekend in Brazil – scene of his most impressive victory of 2024 as he romped to the win from 17th on the grid.

“I think it’s a bit like where other places we have performed really well, and maybe McLaren didn’t get the most out of it,” he said.

“Sometimes the track also just suits the car a little bit better, and it’s clear that we are not good everywhere yet, or at least, let’s say, the best, or whatever.

“So I hope that, yeah, this weekend will be a bit different. I mean, it’s a completely different track layout and behaviour as well, with the altitude as well. So we’ll see what we get.”

For the Dutch driver, his unexpected championship resurgence means he’s not feeling the pressure as the title chase enters its final weeks.

“For me, there’s no pressure,” he said.

“I mean, even if I don’t win it, I still know that I drove a really good season, and I can happily say that to try and replicate the season that I’ve done with people on the grid, I think it will be very tough.

“So you just need to be realistic in the chances that we had throughout the season. To still be talking about being in this fight, I think, is already remarkable in the first place.

“Yeah, for sure, it has to do with the turnaround of the team. They never gave up, and that’s the strength of the team. But, nevertheless, I think at one point when you’re over 100 points behind, and then still we’re talking about being in this fight, is very impressive.”

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