“I should be miles ahead” – Max Verstappen 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.

Gutted. Very frustrating to end another race like this as we were looking at an easy P2 😤

Congrats to @SChecoPerez on scoring another podium. 💪

We have to work hard the coming days to get on top of things and improve for Imola. pic.twitter.com/6hEUlkvwZK

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 10, 2022

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