Austin — all the way FIA press conference Something came back to Max Verstappen when he came out of his room after the F1 sprint race at the US Grand Prix.
There's a smile on his face.
Verstappen, who took pole position in Friday's F1 sprint, went wire-to-wire on Saturday. The result puts him two points clear of Lando Norris in the race for the F1 drivers' championship, while Red Bull moves two points closer to McLaren in the race for the constructors' title.
“Yes, I'm happy.” Verstappen began speaking at the FIA press conference.. “Yeah, of course there were quite a few races where I was just kind of looking backwards without being able to attack. And finally, the performance of this car has definitely improved. I could push it a little harder. So, yeah, I'm very, very happy today. If you look at the whole race, I think Ferrari was also very fast. But for us, this was already much better.
Verstappen was asked about the atmosphere at Red Bull in recent weeks, when McLaren overtook Red Bull in the title race. As the driver pointed out, the team just focused on what they could control.
“I think what's been very important for us in the last few races is to stay calm and work through the issues,” Verstappen said. “And that's what we've been doing as a team. Just focus on yourself. That's the only thing you can influence and control.”
The results so far here in Austin seem to confirm what we've learned from the Red Bull camp in recent weeks. As McLaren took the lead in the title race, Red Bull pointed to Austin as perhaps the moment for them to put things together again.
Back in September, Red Bull senior advisor Dr. Helmut Marko pointed out that this week was a decisive week as to whether the team could reverse its fortunes.
“We are doing tire tests with Liam Lawson at Monza and at the same time the staff will be analyzing where we need to adjust. We have to find out where we went wrong in the development.” Marko told the Austrian press: OE24. “We have already made some decisive discoveries, but now we need to quickly implement corresponding technical changes to ensure that the car is once again in the right balance. Street circuits in Baku and Singapore The next two races will be less informative in this regard. Austin will show us whether we can achieve a turnaround.”
A smile appears on Max Verstappen's face again as a turnaround appears to be on the horizon.
