Max Verstappen reveals why F1 rivals FAIL against Red Bull

Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Qatar, generic — Photo: © LAT Images

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Verstappen reveals why F1 rivals FAIL against Red Bull

The Dutchman has had his say on the performance of his F1 rivals in 2023

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Saturday 13 January 2024 09:57

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Max Verstappen has suggested that Red Bull's F1 rivals are focusing too heavily on their performance in qualifying and not during the race itself.

Although he was still supremely dominant on a Saturday, the only chink of light in Verstappen's armour appeared to shine through on occasion during qualifying. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz would be able to wrestle pole away from the Dutchman on numerous occasions for Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton also achieving the same feat for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

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Yet time and time again, Red Bull's rivals would fall away during the race as they could not match Verstappen's pace in the RB19 of the the course of an entire grand prix.

Max Verstappen won a stunning 19 out of 22 races for Red Bull in 2023

The Dutchman also secured 12 pole positions

Charles Leclerc was unable to convert any of his five poles for Ferrari into race wins

Verstappen: No Red Bull magic on Sunday

And now the three-time world champion has hinted at the fact that a focus on qualifying might have led the likes of Ferrari to suffer when Sunday rolled around.

"I don’t know – I don’t think we do anything magic in the race," he told Motorsport.com.

"We do our normal offset. I think the other people are having a great qualifying but then not a good race, if you know what I mean.

"Of course, you always look at the race performance, but we also want to be quick in qualifying. It’s nothing weird that we do just to purely focus on the race."