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“I should be miles ahead” – Max Verstappen never felt pressured by Carlos Sainz

Samriddhi Jaiswal
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"I should be miles ahead" - Max Verstappen does never felt pressured by Carlos Sainz

Max Verstappen never felt threatened by Carlos Sainz as he thinks that normally he should be miles ahead of the latter.

A few years ago Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz raced together for Toro Rosso and during their sting together, the Dutchman never felt threatened by the latter on the track.

In the first race of the 2016 season in Australia, a miscommunication left Verstappen behind Sainz and got him furious.

At that time Verstappen told his team that he wanted to pit but he got no response and the team decided to pit Sainz instead. Later on, Sainz also refused to follow an order to swap places with his teammate.

Verstappen urged the team to learn lessons from what happened however, he finds it irrelevant whether or not his bosses abandon future orders.

After the race, the Dutchman said, “To be honest I don’t know and I don’t care,” when asked if position swapping was now off the table in the future. “Normally I should be miles ahead. It should be fine.”

Furthermore, he said that he has everything under control. “I don’t feel the pressure of him. I’m focussing ahead, that’s my competition.”

Also Read: Carlos Sainz denies having problems with Ferrari over the length of his contract

Max Verstappen still falling behind Carlos Sainz

The 2022 season began with the long-awaited rise of the Ferrari. The team took P1 and P2 in Bahrain, missed out on the victory in Saudi Arabia but then returned to it in Australia with a P1 yet again.

While there have been only three races in the season, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has created an impressive scoreboard in the drivers’ standings with 71 points.

Meanwhile, the defending champion Max Verstappen has been seen struggling with his new RB18. The Dutchman had two DNFs in three races with on P1 in Saudi Arabia.

The Red Bull driver has only been able to score 25 points while his previous teammate Carlos Sainz, who now races a Ferrari has bagged 33. It could have been more for Sainz if the little incident where he left the track due to a problem with his steering wheel got him a DNF had not happened in Australia.

Also Read: Sebastian Vettel unsure about his future with Aston Martin

About the author

Samriddhi Jaiswal

Samriddhi Jaiswal

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Samriddhi Jaiswal is an F1 editor and writer at The SportsRush. She started her career as a business journalist but soon found her calling in lights out here we go! Samriddhi has been a Ferrari fan even when her interaction with F1 was occasional. Her first real experience with the thrilling sport came when Charles Leclerc clinched his iconic victory in Spa and Monza and painted the track red. Now, a Tifosi, Samriddhi is a hardcore fan of the prancing horse and can relate to the chaos within the Italian camp and also admires Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Off the track, she finds her home in books and musical instruments.

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