Verstappen: “No reason to believe in the title for now”
After his latest retirement in Australia, Max Verstappen is already seriously doubting his chances of winning the title. He is already conceding 46 points to Charles Leclerc and is only sixth in the championship.
Still frustrated by his undeniably unreliable car, Max Verstappen left Australia empty-handed. A major underperformance for him and Red Bull, as the Austrian team aimed to build momentum after the Dutchman’s victory in Jeddah. Just like in Bahrain, Verstappen was unable to reach the checkered flag after his RB18 caught fire on the 39th lap.
While he was comfortably in second position, the Dutchman could hope to gather 18 points and limit the lead taken by Charles Leclerc. Red Bull has now let slip 36 points, a already colossal total after three races. Verstappen is only sixth in the championship with the 25 points from his victory in Saudi Arabia.
It is his second lowest points total after three races since he joined Red Bull, ahead of 2018 (18 points) and tied with 2017. The Dutchman knows how important every point can be at the end of the season after his fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton last year. Without these two setbacks, he would only be 10 points behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, but “if” is a big word…
« We are already so far in the championship, I believe 46 points, from now on we must be ahead. We must be the fastest, which we are not, and reliable, which we are not either. So there is a lot of work to do. » the Dutchman became annoyed. « I don’t even think about it [the title]. For the moment there is no reason to believe in it. » he added, pessimistic about his chances of keeping his crown.
A statistic can be discouraging for the Dutch, as no driver has ever come back from such a deficit in the World Championship. The record is held by Sebastian Vettel, who recovered 44 points from Fernando Alonso in 2012 to clinch his third title. But Max Verstappen is a man who loves breaking records, being the youngest winner of a Grand Prix in history. He still has 20 races to prove the numbers wrong.
