Verstappen Shares First Thoughts After Summer Break As Race Week Begins
F1Tuesday, 20 August 2024 at 20:00
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen shared his thoughts about the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix following the 3-week summer break.
Max Verstappen went into the summer break with a comfortable lead of 78 points in the drivers' championship ahead of Lando Norris in second place.
While the lead is comfortable, the Dutchman certainly seemed to feel like the battle for the title was far from over during the few interviews he made before going on holiday.
The 26-year-old expressed concern about Red Bull's pace as he pointed out he didn't have the fastest car for several weekends preceding the break.
His main goal was to motivate all the members of the Austrian team to figure out what might be wrong with the RB20 so they could bring home both Championships at the end of the season.
It won't be clear whether Red Bull was able to make that progress until the qualifying session and the race at Circuit Zandvoort this weekend. However, all that wasn't the Dutchman's focus as he shared his initial feelings after the summer break:
"It was good to spend some time relaxing with family and friends over the summer break and we are feeling refreshed and ready for the second half of the season."
"It is great to start it back at my home race. It is always a fantastic atmosphere, and the fans are incredible, so it is a special one for me."
Two F1 drivers have already managed to win in front of their home crowd this season - Charles Leclerc in Monaco and Lewis Hamilton in Great Britain. Verstappen will be hoping to join the club this weekend.
While Red Bull's results before the summer break didn't look very promising, Helmut Marko suggested the team had more performance than they could have shown due to various circumstances. Verstappen added:
"It is a great circuit, with its short straights and narrow track, and hopefully, we can come back even stronger for this race. We are looking forward to the week ahead and hopefully we can be fighting for the win."
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