Verstappen: "We are now a little dependent on luck or a bad day from them"

From Monza onwards, the teams will no longer be allowed to drive with so-called party modes in qualifying. From the Italian Grand Prix onwards, the engine mode of qualifying must be the same as that of the race. Max Verstappen believes this will bring Red Bull Racing closer to Mercedes, but will not completely close the gap.

No more partymodes in F1

Verstappen expects that Red Bull will stand behind Mercedes even after the abolition of party fashions. The change will certainly have a small effect according to him, but the gap to the front is simply too big at the moment, according to Motorsport-Total.com.

Second place

The Dutchman is currently second in the championship and says he thinks he and Red Bull have overachieved. "Purely looking at the speed, Mercedes should be in front of me", he says according to De Telegraaf. "Valtteri Bottas and I both had a race that we were unlucky and ended up outside the points."

Verstappen says he wants to fight for the world title, but remains realistic: "On paper it seems that we are now close, but looking at the difference between Mercedes and Red Bull we are too slow. We are now a little dependent on a bad day from them or some luck. So there is still plenty of work to be done", concludes the Dutchman.