Max Verstappen says he doesn’t feel his chances of winning the drivers’ championship have changed much despite taking another big chunk of points from McLaren drivers in the sprint at the US Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris retired at the first corner of Saturday’s short race. A four-car crash resulted in Fernando Alonso also retiring and Nico Hulkenberg also sustaining damage. Verstappen also won the sprint and took eight points, closing the gap on Piastri to 55 points, but the Dutchman said he remained focused on his individual results rather than the title picture.
- Report: Verstappen wins US Sprint after two McLarens crash on the first lap
“It’s not important to believe in it,” Verstappen said. “I just take it race by race. I just do the best I can. Today, yeah, it was perfect to get points. We got a little bit closer and I think that’s good for everyone. Maybe not for them, but for everyone in general.”
“But I’m looking at other things. I wasn’t completely happy with the pace of the race. I know I need to do better if I want to win tomorrow. That’s what I’ll focus on.”
Verstappen had complained about the handling of the rear of his car during the sprint, but admitted it would have been difficult to win if the two McLarens had cleared the first corner cleanly.
“It was okay. I had a good start, but I expected the overall pace of the race to be a little better,” he said. “So that’s something we need to work on, especially if McLaren is not on the first lap tomorrow.
“I think if they were racing today it would have been very difficult to separate them. So that’s something we need to work on for tomorrow. But still, I accept it. We’re gaining points, so that’s a positive thing. Now we need to think about how we can improve the pace a little bit.”
“I got a little bit more grip and a better sense of balance in the car. Overall I felt okay, but I felt like I probably degraded[the tires]a little too much in the race. I didn’t have a good baseline for the McLaren, but certainly the McLaren was probably faster than I think it is in the sprint right now, so I just have to think ahead.”