Verstappen glad to move away from 'toy cars' to 'race cars'

Verstappen glad to move away from 'toy cars' to 'race cars'

Originally written by Joas van Wingerden. This version is a translation.

Friday 15 December 2017 14:23

Max Verstappen has looked back on his 2017 Formula One campaign with positivity and claimed that his performance on the track was down to the change from what he describes as a 'toy car' in 2016 to the wider, faster vehicles we saw this past campaign.

Despite enduring numerous reliability issues within the Renault engines used by Red Bull, Verstappen was impressive this season and claimed two Grand Prix victories and four podiums.

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Red Bull made decent moves during the campaign via Verstappen and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, but at the end, they still ended up finishing behind Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

The Dutchman was a fan of the chassis changes implemented for the start of the 2017 season. When asked whether he was a fan of the new design, he said:

"I think in general yes, it's been a bit more positive because it's more like a race car. Last year's was a bit more like a toy car for my feeling.

"This year it's a bit more rough and you know it's harder to drive but in general it's also just more enjoyable because you can go a lot faster into the corners without being too worried about locking fronts and stuff and I think that helped me."

Most drivers admitted that the new design was enjoyable to drive, but have lamented the inability to follow behind other cars, making overtakes less common.