Max regarding development RB13: “It’s getting better”
Published on 09 June 2017 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen is getting ready for round seven of the Formula 1 championship, which will be held this weekend on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada’s Montreal. After a somewhat disappointed race in Monaco, during which the Dutchman got stuck behind of Valtteri Bottas for the entire race, his team mate got the better of him by pulling off an overcut. But Max is not someone who looks back.
“Of course I still am not happy with it, but I cannot change anything about it”, says Max on being fifth fastest in Monaco. If the overcut (stopping later) was the better strategy than the undercut (stopping earlier), was not clear beforehand: “That’s difficult to say. At that moment I don’t know who is driving behind of me and who is doing a pit stop, for that I need to rely on the team. To be honest, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s done. After Monaco I haven’t thought that much about racing, I spent most of the time with friends and family. Here in Canada we can try again to do better.”
Max knows that it will be hard to perform just that well again like in Monaco: “This track doesn’t really suit us”, the Dutchman admits. “Monaco was more to our liking.” For Max also, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is not one of his favourites: “My father thinks it is a super circuit. I think it’s ok, but not particularly special. There is not really something that makes me go wild. There are four chicanes, but I like long and fast corners, like at Spa-Francorchamps. If, at the last chicane, at the ‘Wall of Champions, you take the kerbstones in a wrong way, you’re in the wall of course. But that’s nothing compared to Monaco. Braking is on the other hand very important here. It is also a bit harder to find a reference point, because your approach speed is a lot higher. That was the case last year and the year before. The cars were faster on the straight of course and had less grip. It was even harder then to find a braking point, because if you braked a bit too late, you would lock up immediately. This year round, it’s easier to find your braking point with how the cars are handling.”
“This weekend we can expect some more updates on the car, that will, hopefully, help us in our push forward. We still lack some straight line speed, but that’s something we have had the whole season so far and it’s something we cannot influence. Even though Montreal is not our strongest circuit, I will do my best and try to get the most out of it. We need to stay alert and take every opportunity we get. Hopefully something will happen just ahead of us, you never know.”
On the question if the long expected Renault update will take place in Baku, the Red Bull Racing-driver says: “I haven’t heard anything about that. I don’t know if there will be an update in Baku. We will see.” The many updates that were introduced on the RB13 from Spain onwards, have indeed made an improvement according to Verstappen: “The new parts that are on the car, have created more stability. Maybe some calculations were off regarding the RB13. The balance improved because of the new parts. The changes we are now doing on the car, are having the desired effect, just like last year. It’s getting better, so that’s something positive”, Verstappen concludes.
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