'I Was Just Not Happy': Verstappen Pinpoints Two Worst Races In 2023
F1Thursday, 28 December 2023 at 04:00
The triple World Champion Max Verstappen identified his worst two races of an otherwise super successful 2023 season.
It was only three races that Max Verstappen didn't win in 2023 - the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and the Singapore Grand Prix.
Naturally, the Dutchman picked two of these races as his worst in 2023. As quoted by motorsport.com, the triple World Champion said:
"The worst one was still Baku. I was just not being happy with how everything was going."
In Baku, the Dutchman finished second behind his teammate Sergio Perez. He was initially leading the race, but a strategic error set him back a few places, and when he finally caught up with Perez, he couldn't overtake the Mexican F1 driver.
After the Baku City Circuit race in Azerbaijan, Verstappen reportedly told his father he wouldn't lose any more races to his teammate in 2023.
To his credit, the triple World Champion dominated over his teammate for the rest of the season and scored first place in every single remaining race but one - the Singapore Grand Prix.
"In Singapore we were just off and probably made a few mistakes with the set-up as well. It was just messy. For me, Singapore didn’t happen in a way. I don’t count that one."
Red Bull struggled with the setup of their cars during the whole weekend at Marina Bay Street Circuit, and their two drivers were not competitive as a result.
"I think it was a bit of hit-and-miss throughout the stint, but the end of the stint was actually very strong, where I think already I’d hurt my tires quite badly from the beginning trying to pass."
While Verstappen still beat his teammate, he didn't even finish on the podium during the race. However, the Dutchman believes there were a lot of valuable lessons to take from the weekend.
"When I came out of that race, I said, ‘Okay, I didn’t win the race but I actually learned a lot for the upcoming races’."
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