Max previews Zandvoort: 'Hopefully fight for the podium or the win.'
Published on 02 September 2021 by Stefan Meens
In recent years, Max Verstappen has not joined any track walks on the Thursday before a race, but ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the Red Bull Racing star made an exception. “The engineers wanted to do a track walk so I joined them. For me personally it’s not necessary, I know the circuit anyway.”
Formula 1 is back in the Netherlands! Max: “They’ve done an amazing job by creating all this; to be able to host a Grand Prix in the first place and then to see the whole complex, it looks really good. Hopefully we can have a lot of fun this weekend, with of course a good result. Hopefully it’s going to be an awesome qualifying with light cars so we can really experience the speed.”
There have been some changes to the track. “Everybody is very interested in the banking, it looked special during the track walk. You don’t see it at a lot of other tracks. It definitely adds something. The last corner will easily be flat out, but in turn three there are several lines you can use. Zandvoort is an old school track; a mistake is punished by gravel tracks, despite there being more run-off. I like that.”
Overtaking could be a challenge. “I think it will be difficult, but let’s stay positive and await tomorrow. Hopefully we can be at the front on Saturday so we don’t need to worry too much about overtaking.”
Usually, a home race means extra commitments and pressures. “Not really actually, we kept things fairly similar to other Grands Prix. That’s important as we want to prepare well and not be too busy with other things.”
Does the RB16B have strong points that can be an advantage around Zandvoort? “I think it’s more about the details, the way you set up your car. Some tracks suit our car better than others. But we don’t have any data for this circuit, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
What are your expectations for the weekend? Max: “Difficult to say because we don’t have information from previous years. It will be a bit of a gamble with what set-up we’ll start, but after the opening practice session, we’ll have a better picture about what direction to pursue. We’ve been competitive all year, so hopefully we can continue to fight for the podium or the win.”
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