Verstappen ‘cautious’ over title hopes

Editor

Max Verstappen is not getting carried away by Red Bull's recent surge in form and is wary of the improvement that could be made by the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.

Verstappen has won two of the last four races in a season which has been derailed by reliability problems, but the Dutchman was seemingly convinced of Red Bull's ability to challenge for titles again after recently signing a contract extension through to the end of the 2020 season.

However, despite pledging his future to the team, Verstappen is still not totally convinced at this stage that Red Bull have what it takes to launch a sustained title bid next season.

 "I'm still a little bit cautious, but it is going in the right way anyway," Verstappen said.

"You never know what [the other teams] are going to come up with.

"I just want to enjoy this end of the season and then we'll see what happens next year."

Max's father, Jos, meanwhile, is more upbeat about Red Bull, who he believes can bring out the best in his son.

"I have this feeling that he is getting more and more confident," Jos Verstappen told Autosport.

"He's even able to play around a bit. This is just great. This is what we want to see.

"This is also the reason why we signed a new contract.

"How they [Red Bull] have managed to turn things around this year, going from – not a bad car because it was not a bad car of course – but from not a really good car to what they have now, that's just superb."