Verstappen more focused on scoring: 'It's a different mindset'

Max is not concerned with the lead

Red Bull Racing was dominant in Formula 1 between 2010 and 2013, but then handed the baton to Mercedes. Red Bull had been trailing since 2014, and the arrival of Max Verstappen in 2016 didn't change that immediately. In 2021, Red Bull will finally have a car that can be competed with again, and that's obviously a good step for Verstappen.

''To be honest I don’t think about it too much. People keep telling me I'm in the lead, and I know I am, but when I'm at home I don't think about it. I just want to go to the next race and try to win again. I know that’s not always possible, but of course we try as a team every single weekend to get the best out of it,'' said the Red Bull driver at Crash.net.

Different mindset for Verstappen

''Of course experience over the years helps but I also think once you have a good car, everything becomes that little bit easier and nicer to work with. It’s completely different if you have a really good car, you think ‘okay this might be a risky move, should I really do it?' It’s all about points. You need to score every single weekend and of course sometimes that means second place is better than zero points.''

That was different for Verstappen when he had to rely on a few race weekends in the season. ''Back in the day when we had a car where sometimes we could win a race, you had to go for it and take a risk to try and get that result, because you knew at the next race you would not be that competitive again. So it’s a different mindset,'' Verstappen concluded.