Max previews the 2019 season: “Optimistic but also realistic”
Published on 12 February 2019 by Kees-Jan Koster
Prior to the 2019 Formula 1 season, Max Verstappen has an extended interview with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.
What did you get up to in the off-season?
“Basically in the off-season I really wanted to be at home. I spend a lot of time in Monaco, being with friends and family. And also a few days basically doing nothing, just being at home, I really loved it. I did eat what I wanted in the off-season, but that was also coming back on the scales in January. So I also had to train it off. I enjoyed just eating what I want for a month, and then I knew I had to work hard, in January and February especially, to get ready for the season. But you deal with it. Of course, those months are maybe not the nicest in terms of the way you are eating, but that is how it goes.”
How have you been training for the season ahead?
“Training wise, I think every year you want to become better, but it is not necessary you are doing really different stuff, you just try to be again a bit more precise, a bit better, a bit more, a bit longer, a bit heavier workouts. In terms of the kind of exercises I was doing it was pretty similar to last year. Really a lot of running, cycling, and then a lot of workouts with your own body weight with bands and stuff. Playing around with that, because at the end of the day you cannot be to muscular, because you’ll be too heavy.”
What are you looking forward to in 2019?
“I am most looking forward to just start the season and see how the whole team is operating, of course together with Honda, and how the engine is performing together with the chassis. That is what I am looking forward to.”
Are you excited?
“I am very excited to get started. The off-season has been quite long, the first two or three weeks are okay to have a break, after that I wanted to get started.”
What are your goals for 2019?
“I just try to get the best out of myself. You have to wait and see what the engine and the car are going to do. I guess up until Australia you cannot really set goals. In Formula 1 it is so related to the package you get. I am always going to try to do as good as I can and to get the best out of myself, but you are so dependent on what you get as a package, so you just have to wait.”
Talk us through the new regulations…
“The big change of course is the front wing. It is made a lot more simple and wider as well, to try and improve overtaking. I am not sure it is going to work, but it will be a new challenge for everyone and hopefully we will be on top of that. And then of course there will be a little bit of fuel increase and the rear wings are a bit wider as well. But I don’t think it is going to do that much.“
Will the new regulations bring the field closer together?
“The teams who had a really bad season last year, I expect them to be a bit better this year because they learned from their mistakes. I think all the teams who were running well, will be pretty similar. I don’t think it will improve the racing, as the cars have too much downforce and are too wide. But we’ll see. Some tracks are anyway better for overtaking than others. You always have a few tracks on the calendar you can’t really overtake, and some tracks have a lot of opportunities. I expect it to be exactly the same.”
Are you looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the RB15?
“I am very excited to get started with the engine, I really want to feel how it upshifts and downshifts and what the drivability is, how much power there is. From there onwards you just start to work together with the car on what you can improve.”
What are you most looking forward to about driving with Pierre Gasly?
“I am looking forward to start working together and improve and push the team forward. I think that is our aim and hopefully we will succeed in that.”
You and Pierre raced karts together, how do you think that will benefit your relationship as teammates in F1?
“I have very good memories from go-karting. And now we are in Formula 1, it is a few years later, we’ve both grown a lot as driver. In Formula 1, the world is different than it was in go-karting. You have to work as a team to perform.”
Are you going to challenge Pierre to a game of FIFA?
“Yes, I’m fine in playing against Pierre. He is easy to wind up on FIFA. So if I get him into that state, I win.”
You and Pierre are one of the youngest driver pairings, but is age just a number?
“I don’t think that is an advantage, but also not a disadvantage. I have done four seasons now in Formula 1, so I guess you can rely on the experience you have done. For Pierre, he has done one and a little bit [of a season]. The team is so experienced, they will help him to go through it, the same they did with me. Of course, when you are thirty years old you have a lot more experience, but it is not necessary that you are faster.”
Your fans are some of the most passionate and loud, how does that feel?
“I see a lot of my fans of course around the track, especially in some locations like Austria and Spa. There are a lot. It doesn’t make me faster, but it makes me smile a bit more in the car.”
Tell us about the development of the Honda engine…
“With the new partner, with Honda, we are expecting a lot. We are all very positive, but I think it also needs to take a little bit of time. It cannot be that from race one it can be perfect. For sure there will be moments where as a team we’ll make mistakes, or it is maybe not going as we want it to. But I think what is very important is that the team and Honda are pushing very hard to improve the development. At the moment I am very optimistic, but also realistic. I think time will tell how we are going to perform.”
