Max previews Turkish Grand Prix: 'We all start from scratch'
Published on 12 November 2020 by Stefan Meens
This weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix is Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s 300th race in Formula 1, with Max Verstappen contesting his 93rd event for the Milton Keynes based outfit.
“Red Bull gave me the chance to make my Formula 1 debut”, explained Max, referring to his first season in F1, when he drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso. “From that first year, we made good steps forward together. When I moved to Red Bull Racing, over a year later, I’ve also build up a good relationship with everyone, also with the management. I feel everyone is highly motivated and there is a real drive in the team to fight for the championship next year. There is only one team we have to beat, that is doing better, and that’s Mercedes. But I feel very much at home at Red Bull.”
The current regulations have led to Grand Prix cars with vast amounts of downforce that make it nearly impossible to stay close behind a car in front, let alone overtake it. For the 2021 season, the floor of the cars is made smaller to reduce downforce. This regulation change is a small step towards the 2022 rules that are geared towards more overtaking.
Max: “I think they’ve listened to the teams and drivers. It’s just really difficult to overtake in these cars. You saw that in Imola; I was four tenths quicker than Valtteri Bottas because he had damage and I still couldn’t get past him. When I finally did get by, it was obvious how much quicker I was. Hopefully the new rules will make racing more exciting and make sure that qualifying isn’t the most important, because following another car is already difficult enough.”
Istanbul Park, has not hosted a Grand Prix since 2011 and Max has never driven the track. “Last week I spent a day in the simulator in Milton Keynes. We’ve tried to prepare as well as we can, but the old data the team has, is useless. It’s really like starting from scratch because Red Bull has not raced here in the hybrid era.”
