Max Verstappen says McLaren is putting together a “quite extraordinary” performance so far this season and believes Red Bull needs improvements soon to be able to stay in the fight for the drivers’ championship.
Oscar Piastri leads Lando Norris by 22 points heading into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, with Verstappen 43 points adrift of the championship leader. McLaren has won seven of the first ten races this year – five for Piastri and two for Norris – and Verstappen says Red Bull must update its car effectively in the coming races to be able to challenge of the title.
“A lot needs to happen for that, to be honest,” Verstappen said of his hopes of fighting Piastri. “We need to start winning races more often. And how do we do that? By being more competitive. Now, [Canada] was a good weekend, but again, not competitive enough.
“We have our moments where maybe we can win here or there, but we just need to make the car faster. Then we make it a lot easier for ourselves. We’re working hard on it with the team. Of course, bits are coming, but is it going to be enough? I don’t know. It’s small margins in this world that can give you better results every single weekend.
“But what I think so far, what McLaren has shown this whole season is quite extraordinary and difficult to beat. So now, OK, one weekend is not as good, but they are still by far the favorites. And that’s not going to be something that is easily beaten. But the coming races, we really want to try and improve our car.”
While McLaren has had an advantage at most venues, Verstappen has still been able to take two victories and finish second on three occasions, with team principal Christian Horner saying the amount of time left in the season makes a turnaround possible.
“The points gap – there’s still a significant points gap between us and them, but we don’t give up on anything,” Horner said. “We’re not even at the halfway point yet, so there’s a lot of racing, a lot of Sprint races coming up, and if we can keep chipping away and getting performance on the car, then nobody gives up on anything.”
The next Sprint event is at the Belgian Grand Prix – following the upcoming double-header of Austria and Great Britain – while the season ends with three Sprint races in the final six rounds across the United States, Brazil and Qatar.
