Verstappen about his chances at the title: "I don't give up"

This should be the year of Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen, but so far it's all been a bit difficult. Especially the first race was a disaster due to the early retirement of the Dutchman and with a shortened calendar it is even harder to become champion. Verstappen doesn't give up though, he still sees opportunities.

The backlog is one thing, but also the teams still have to deal with restrictions on the development of the car. That makes it a big challenge to narrow the gap with Mercedes, but Verstappen keeps up the courage. It is important to start winning now, otherwise the gap to Mercedes drivers will become too big.

"We've made it harder on ourselves with a retirement in the first weekend", says Verstappen in a media session quoted by Motorsport. "More and more races are being confirmed now, but it won't be a full calendar. So if we really want to compete for the championship we have to start winning now of course."

"We're way behind, but we're gonna see. I'm not giving up. It's certainly not going to be easy, but of course it's nothing to give up hope right now." This is certainly not in the nature of Verstappen, who will continue to fight until the very last moment. Nor does he give up just like that when an opponent is faster.

The latter proved to be the case during the second Grand Prix where he made Valtteri Bottas just as difficult, despite the fact that Verstappen knew he was going to lose to the Finn. "I could have just let him pass by and done nothing. I know he will catch up with me anyway, but of course I'm not going to let him pass easily", the Dutch Red Bull driver said.