Max Verstappen on F1 title hopes: Good to score more points

Max Verstappen

Verstappen on title hopes: Good to score more points

Can Max hunt down the Mercs?

Matthew Scott

Monday 29 July 2019 13:09

Max Verstappen played down his entry into the fight for World Drivers' Championship glory, despite taking a second victory in three races at the German Grand Prix.

Mercedes had an atrocious weekend at Hockenheim, scoring just two points through Lewis Hamilton thanks to a post-race penalty given to the Alfa Romeo cars.

That extended his lead atop the standings to 41 points over team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Verstappen closing the gap to 63 points thanks to a victory and fastest lap bonus in the wet.

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The Dutchman is a clear third in the championship, but says the Silver Arrows remain out of his sights for now.

"They are still miles ahead in the championship," Verstappen said.

"It's more than two victories, and they are still the dominant team, I think. It was just very tricky out there and it's easy to make a mistake, as you could see. Yeah, it was not their day.

"We managed to do a good job but we still have to work very hard to close that gap and actually really fight for the victory every single race so still a lot of work to do.

"But of course when you can, it's good to score more points than them."

Ferrari remain Mercedes' closest rivals in the constructors' championship, albeit 148 points adrift, and Sebastian Vettel still expects a sixth consecutive title double to go the Silver Arrows' way.

He said: "We still have a lot of races to go, a lot of things can happen but it's not like we can expect them to score no points for the rest of the season so pretty much the opposite - they will be up there.

"We need to make sure we improve and give them a much harder time and naturally if you put people under pressure then things start to move. So it's up to both of us, I guess, or us as Ferrari and them as Red Bull."