La Formula 1, after the Miami stop, is preparing to return to European soil. The Imola circuit welcomes it, recently at the center of the debate on the actual possibility of remaining on the calendar for a long time. However, Max is also in the Santerno spotlight in Imola Verstappen, which after the victory in China and Japan, saw its short streak of first places interrupted by Lando's success Norris.
It seems clear that, also due to the situation that is affecting Red Bull in recent weeks, the typical harmony that allowed the team to score victories with nonchalance has disappeared. In Imola the winged bull team seems intent on making up for Florida's "slip". – if you can define a second place like that – and he already has a ready to do so new update package to debut in Italy. Here are Verstappen's words ahead of the Imola GP.
The rush for updates
McLaren and Ferrari want to try to get Red Bull back and to do so they are focusing everything on updates, a factor that worries Max Verstappen quite a bit in view of the Imola Grand Prix.
“There are more and more teams coming forward with updates, for example I saw a Ferrari that comes with a big package, so at the moment it's very difficult to know where we will be. About our updates, this is not a response to McLaren. These things have already been planned for some time. It's not like a team comes in with updates and we say, 'Oh, now let's respond.' These are developments already in the pipeline.”
Red Bull is rarely vulnerable, but at this stage everything is still open, and every detail makes the difference: “We are satisfied, but of course we have to keep pushing, because the teams behind us are definitely catching up. As we saw in Miami, when we don't manage to perform at 100%, the others are ahead, and we have to try to make sure we don't have too many weekends of this type. McLaren has presented a very important update, so I think we will only find out here how good this package will be, because it always takes a little time to fine-tune everything.
Verstappen fears Ferrari and McLaren
Of 4 races Red Bull, or rather Max Verstappen won 4. The remaining two went to Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris respectively. The idea is therefore that we are faced with an anomalous season, without clear dominance. One of the main problems is also linked to the fact that without Max Red Bull is not able to achieve a victory with Sergio Perez. All these signs worry Max, who expects a closer fight.
“These are small details that can sometimes make a big difference in terms of lap times. I think the first five races weren't as simple as they try to make people believe, because it's always a question of attention to detail that makes the difference. But we knew, these are small details that can sometimes make a big difference in terms of lap times. I think the first five races weren't as simple as they try to make people believe, because it's always a question of attention to detail that makes the difference. I believe that since the beginning of the year the other teams are closer than last year. In general I expect this season to be more competitive than 2023."
Source statements: FormulaPassion
