Verstappen enjoys Red Bull crew: "That's what F1 and competition is all about".

Max Verstappen will be hoping to take his fourth win at the Red Bull Ring this weekend. After victories in 2018 and 2019, he was also the strongest man in Austria last weekend. He is now eighteen points ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton, the Dutchman leads the championship reasonably comfortably, but some more margin would of course be welcome.

"To win our home race last weekend was a whole Team effort and we can be very happy with that, but we cannot expect the same result easily this weekend," said Verstappen in Red Bull Racing's preview ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. The Dutchman thinks proportions could well shift a little next weekend. "People will learn from what they didn't do so well last week and also we have softer tire compounds which could mix things up as well."

There is also some room for improvement on the RB16B in Spielberg. "We had a very positive race but there are always things we can do better and I naturally expect everyone to be closer this weekend as this is usually what happens when you have back-to-back races at the same track," he explained.

Verstappen not looking at Mercedes

Red Bull seem to have the upper hand on Merecdes, but Verstappen doesn't look much at the standings. "As a Team we are focused on ourselves and I like that everyone is still pushing and wants to improve, as that is what Formula 1 and competition is about. It is very important to me to see everyone motivated and adding performance and from my side I will keep driving to the maximum each weekend so we can try and stay ahead."

The Austrian Grand Prix will be the ninth of 2021. In total, the season has 23 weekends so focus must not be lost, warns the 14-time Grand Prix winner. "At the moment we have a very good package but we need to keep on top of everything as it is still a very long season," Verstappen said.