Max Verstappen asks Red Bull for "a bit more" to ward off Lewis Hamilton challenge

Max Verstappen

Verstappen asks Red Bull for "a bit more" to ward off Hamilton challenge

Red Bull driver feels title race will "swing both ways"

Ian Parkes

Thursday 9 September 2021 08:00

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Max Verstappen has called on Red Bull to provide him with "a bit more" in an F1 title race he still feels will "definitely swing both ways".

Verstappen was dominant across the weekend of his home race in the Netherlands to reclaim the lead in the drivers' standings from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, with the margin just three points.

Team principal Christian Horner, however, feels Red Bull now face damage limitation across the next two races in Italy and Russia which have traditionally been Mercedes strongholds.

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After responding to Mercedes' rally in the British and Hungarian Grands Prix, the 23-year-old Dutch driver is seeking another push to combat a further expected revival from Hamilton.

"For me, they did pole position in Silverstone, even though of course it didn’t count as a pole position," said Verstappen, referring to qualifying ahead of the new sprint event that determined pole.

"And they were ahead in Hungary, where they definitely had more pace than us, [they] just looked better.

"But of course Hungary was a crazy race with what happened, with the wet and the start, so you shouldn’t look at stats.

"You should look at the realistic pace, what there was and not always look at the race result, because I definitely think they would have won Hungary if everything went as normal.

"That’s why I really felt, in the break, I was like ‘We really need to speed things up here because otherwise they’re going to run away with it’.

"I think we did, we did pick it up a bit. I feel like we still need a bit more but it’s heading in the right direction.

"Also, you have to see that there are still quite a lot of different kind of tracks coming up, so it will definitely swing both ways.

"We just have to keep on it and keep pushing and keep bringing new bits for the car."

Horner has suggested, though, there is little left in the tank regarding development as the team focuses more on next year's all-new car given the aerodynamic changes.

"Obviously, there is a huge amount of effort going into 2022," said Horner.

"Going into Monza, [we will have] Monza wings [low-downforce spec] as all drivers and cars will have, but we are getting to the end of the cycle with this car now.

"If there are marginal gains in any particular area, you have to go for them."