MAX VERSTAPPEN SHOWS TRUE COLOURS WITH RESPONSE TO WORST F1 RUN OF FORM SINCE 2020

Max Verstappen is keen to keep things in perspective amid his worst run of form for four years.

The 2020 season was when he last went five Grands Prix without a victory. But that is now his current predicament as he struggles with his Red Bull car and McLaren continue to press home their advantage.

He still has a healthy gap over Lando Norris in the drivers' championship despite the Briton's victory at Zandvoort last weekend. But while he is 70 points clear with nine races to go, his Red Bull team faces a much more significant threat in the constructors' with McLaren now just 30 points away.

Verstappen admitted his team has "issues" to resolve but was calm when asked about the threat to his title defence. The triple Formula 1 champion said: "I've had a lot of good year - I mean, some people have never won a race in their career, so you can also look at it like that.

"From my side, we at the moment don't have the fastest car. We have some issues that we have to solve and we are working on that. That's the only thing I can say about that. You know, we're very focused on it. There's still a lot of races left, a lot of different kind of tracks. This weekend was just not our best weekend."

Verstappen took an early lead in his home race, much to the delight of the Dutch fans. But though Norris had a poor launch off the line, he didn't put a wheel wrong for the rest of the Grand Prix and, once he had moved past the championship leader, never looked back.

Having finished nearly 23 seconds behind Norris, Verstappen conceded he never had a chance of stopping the Briton. But despite that significant performance gap on a track where he had been unbeaten in the past, the 26-year-old still refuses to admit any worry.

He said: "There was nothing that I could do, so once he passed, I just focused on doing my race, tried to bring it to the end in second. The last few races already haven't really been fantastic. So that, I think in a sense, was already a bit alarming. But we know that we don't need to panic."

This position is an unfamiliar one for a Red Bull team that has become accustomed to having things its own way in F1 over the past few years. Team principal Christian Horner knows the threat his outfit faces but is just as aware that Red Bull can only get caught up in what they can control.

He said: "You've got to drive with the championship in mind. There have been seven different race winners this year. So, if you can't win, then you've got to be scoring the points."

2024-08-29T08:38:12Z dg43tfdfdgfd