Max at Zandvoort during DTM-weekend: “Glad to be here”
Published on 20 August 2017 by Mike Motilall
Max Verstappen was a guest today at the DTM-race at Circuit Zandvoort. The sixth race-weekend of the Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters championship took place this weekend in the Dutch dunes.
“I am glad to be here”, says the Dutchman. We have had some nice races here before. It is a great track with a lot of history. I also have some fond memories here of myself, seeing I won the Zandvoort Masters here and have also done some show runs in a Formula 1-car. I am looking forward to today and am curious what the gents have in store this afternoon. The weather is also fine, so that is always something good.”
Max shares what he thinks of one of the biggest touring car championships: “It is a very nice racing class. I was able to follow it very closely during my Formula 3-period in 2014. The teams are very close to one another. Every weekend you can expect a different winner, which is of course very positive. When I am at home and have some free time, I always watch the race. It is fun to watch and there is a lot of action.” If there is a possible future in DTM? “If I am still motivated to do something beside Formula 1, why not?”
Next week, the Formula 1-season will get underway again in Belgium on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, after a four weeks' Summer break. Verstappen expects to see a lot of Dutch fans again: “There will be a sea of orange again. Even last year that was very special. We had done very well during qualifying, even though the race didn’t quite go as planned. I hope that we will now have a good race weekend. We’ll see. A bit of rain during the race is of course always fun.”
Just like in Austria, there is a real Max Verstappen Grand Stand available for the fans this year at Spa. What does the Dutchman think of the fact that he has his own Grand Stand? And doesn’t this give added pressure? “I am happy with that. You can see a lot of orange. The pressure is actually positive. There will be a lot of fans to cheer you on and give some extra motivation”
Finally, Max discusses his current season, that has seen different highs but also some lows so far. How does this affect the Red Bull Racing-driver? “It tests yourself. Quite often we have been in a good position after which we dropped out. That’s just part of racing. It is not what you want, but it’s all in the game. You need to deal with it, stay positive and try and make the best of it the next race. The season is not over yet, we still have the second half yet. I hope that we can even close the gap furthermore and fight for podiums regularly.”
Max eventually presented the trophy to his Red Bull-colleague Marco Wittmann, who won the race for team BMW.
