“It’s just not enough”– Max Verstappen needs faster car to beat Mercedes

“It’s just not enough”– Max Verstappen wants to have a faster car by Red Bull to provide more challenge to Mercedes for the championship.

Just four races into the season, and it appears that this season will belong to Mercedes, contrary to the initial assumption, where the Brackley based team vouched Red Bull’s contention for the 2021 championship.

Now, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen talking about his last race, claimed that he could do little against Mercedes, as he was cornered by Lewis Hamilton’s two pit stop strategy.

“That’s how you sum it up!” Verstappen said. “There’s not much else to really discuss. I tried to do everything to manage it as well as I could, looking after the tyres and stuff, but it’s just not enough when behind you they’re pushing you and you can see clearly there’s a bit more pace.”

“Of course you try to keep up with it and do the best possible strategy you can, but I think even if, let’s say we had gone for that earlier second stop, I don’t think I would have caught Lewis up after that because on that medium I think I was just a bit slower.

“For Lewis to be that close on a track like this all the time within a second, sometimes even having DRS, I think, just shows that there was not much I could do out there to make a difference.

“Of course you always want more, I think that always needs to be the aim,” he added. “I think we shouldn’t be happy with a second-place at the moment but nevertheless we tried everything.”

Red Bull lack in race

Talking about his weekend, Verstappen believes that Red Bull manages to give competition, but it appears weaker in front of Mercedes on race day.

“It looks good when you’re leading for so long in the race, but you also have to look at all the things that are happening throughout the race,” he explained.

“I think here we were just lacking a little bit of pace in the race and it has been like this a little bit so far this season. It seems in qualifying we are quite competitive and in the race struggling a little bit more.”

When asked about what could be the solution to Red Bull’s deficit against Mercedes, Verstappen says that his team would need a faster car.

“We just need a faster car, It’s very simple,” Verstappen replied. “Then you don’t need to get into a situation like that. That’s what we have to focus on.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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