“Even with the points it’s not going to be easy” – Max Verstappen is wary of the pace Mercedes showed in Istanbul and is not going to be complacent in the championship fight.
Lewis Hamilton had a two-point lead over Max Verstappen before Turkey, but now, the Red Bull driver leads instead by a significant six points in an insanely close championship battle this season.
Verstappen finished P2, with Hamilton further down three places in P5 after a communication goof-up with his Mercedes crew. On the other hand, Valtteri Bottas comfortably won the race, something which Verstappen has noted, showing how quick and dangerous Mercedes can be in the upcoming races.
“They were definitely quicker this weekend. We just didn’t get it together and also in the wet they seemed to have a bit of the edge as well. So we’ll have to analyse of course why we weren’t that competitive here and I definitely do think they probably stepped it up a bit more.
“So even with the points it’s not going to be easy. But I think I even said it before we even started the weekend, so far we’ve had a really good year so it’s not going to change the world for me if we finish first or second at the end of the day.
“I’m always going to give my best and we’ll see again in Austin how it’s going to go.
“We won’t give up, we’ll always try to do the best we can and hopefully, of course, at the end of the championship it’s going to be enough but if it isn’t I’m not going to sleep less.”
