Red Bull "will do everything we can to fight" for the title - Verstappen

Max Verstappen has his eyes fixed on the Formula 1 championship title, and prizing it away from the hands of Lewis Hamilton the season.

Verstappen ended the 2019 season third in the standings, behind only the Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Labelling Mercedes as once again being 'the team to beat', the Dutchman said he is looking forward to the challenge of dethroning the Silver Arrows.

"One thing I know for sure is that we will do everything we can to fight for it [the title]," said Verstappen. "Mercedes are still the ones to beat, because they have been the dominant team for so long now.

"They are still very strong and will be hard to beat but as a team we learnt a lot over the last year and I really think that we are stronger.

"We’ve got some good races coming up this season, so I will of course try to close that gap and hopefully we can make it difficult for them, it will be a good challenge to try and beat them."

Verstappen has topped the podium on each of the two most recent visits to the Red Bull Ring and, when quizzed on a potential hat-trick of wins in Austria, the Dutchman made clear where his priorities lie, adding: "I would prefer to win a Championship!

"I don’t really think about a hat-trick, the most important thing for me is to have a competitive car and perform at my best.

"I never consider myself the favourite because actually when you look at the track it’s not even our best track, but last year, of course, it was very warm. We were really good with keeping the engine cooling down.

"So I don’t expect it to be an easy win, I think Mercedes again will be very strong. Who knows where Ferrari will be as well, so no, it will be a very hard and tough battle again to win that race, but we’re going to try."

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