The Austrian GP saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen extend his winning streak to 5. The Dutchman was enjoying his time at the front of the track when he decided to try and record the fastest lap of the race and earn an extra point, even though his team advised him against it. Speaking to Channel 5’s Steve Jones, the defending world champion revealed how the team’s late owner, Dietrich Mateschitz’s words inspired him to keep pushing.
With a time of 1:07.012, Verstappen won his fourth ‘DHL Fastest Lap Award’ of the season. The Dutchman’s team hesitated to allow the race leader to push harder than required, but they knew he wouldn’t heed their advice. Hence the team decided it was safer for him to pit and push for the fastest lap time on new tires.
Dietrich Mateschitz’s words inspired Max Verstappen to keep pushing in Austria
Steve Jones recalled the Austria race as he told Verstappen he was confident the Dutchman would take the risk of an extra pitstop to push for the fastest lap time. Verstappen replied he would have gone for the extra point on old tires only, but his team figured it would be safer if he did so on new tires. Red Bull’s late boss, Mateschitz, also played a part in Verstappen’s push, as his famous words motivated the 25-year-old.
“Sometimes, you know, no risk no fun, so you know you need to spice it up a bit. I mean that’s also, I think how a bit of a motto like Dietrich used to have and use- ‘no risk, no fun.”
Pretty much in competition with himself at this point, Verstappen also uses the tactic of unnecessarily pushing himself to scare his team, as admitted by him.
Verstappen feels nice by making his team nervous
After starting P6, Verstappen assumed the lead in the Belgian GP in the 17th lap. He soon built a massive lead over his teammate, Perez, who was in second place. Knowing he had an unassailable lead, Verstappen suggested his team do another pitstop late in the race for some “pitstop training” for the crew.
Red Bull’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was far from amused by the statement as he blasted the driver on the radio. However, once the race was over and the press conference had started, Verstappen clarified he was not serious about the pitstop and enjoys making his team feel nervous.
🗣️”Many race engineers would crumble under that pressure.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has joked race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is the #F1 team’s Jason Statham as he praised his “strength of character” to spar with Max Verstappen ⬇️https://t.co/4ThsKrLwuV
— Autosport (@autosport) August 6, 2023
As is clear by his “risky” radio conversations, Max Verstappen is having the time of his life driving the RB19. The Dutchman currently sits 125 points clear at the top of the driver’s standings, and should he continue his winning streak, not only will the Dutchman win his third-consecutive world title and beat his own record of most wins in a season, but he will also break Sebastian Vettel’s record of most consecutive wins in one season.
