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Verstappen believes he has a title battle advantage over Norris and Piastri

18:22, 27 Nov

byTim Kraaij

Max Verstappen believes he has an advantage in the championship battle against Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Still, he will change little about his approach.

“If I look at myself in ’21, then experience does help when it comes to how you approach a race weekend.”

- Max Verstappen

In Las Vegas, Verstappen said he needed luck to still become world champion, and not long after, both McLaren drivers were disqualified for skid wear issues. As a result, Verstappen found himself not 42, but only 24 points behind championship leader Norris.

Talking to GPblog in Qatar, the Dutchman said: "Yes, I was flying home. I knew of course there was some kind of investigation into the plank. When it's too low, it's too low. There's so much you can argue about that. Of course, every team always runs it as low as they possibly can. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes it's a bit harder to measure, but there's no excuse."

Although the gap is much smaller than what it was before both Norris and Piastri got disqualified, Verstappen knows the title is far from being in his hands. With a 24-point deficit and 58 points still up for grabs, a lot still needs to go his way for him to actually clinch his fifth world title.

In that respect, Verstappen has an advantage over the McLaren drivers. While Norris and Piastri are in the position to fight for the title for the first time, Verstappen already has four to his name, with one very hard-fought championship battle in 2021 under his belt.

Verstappen’s advantage

While Norris and Piastri dismiss Verstappen’s advantage as unimportant, the Red Bull driver disagrees. “I'll just do it my way. For sure it helps a little bit.

"If I look at myself in '21 and now, for example, yes, for sure having the experience helps in terms of how to approach a race week. Even if you say it doesn't or it shouldn't help, it does help.

"But at the end of the day the most important is that you have a fast car, so that's what we have to make sure that we are faster than them or at least equalish. And then with that we still need a bit of luck.

"I mean, even if they tense up, let's say like that, and they finish P2, P3, it's still fine. From our side, everything needs to go really well and then we might need a little help."

Max Verstappen believes he has an advantage in the title fight - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Although Verstappen says he has an advantage thanks to his experience, it doesn’t change how he approaches the weekend.

"It doesn't matter if I'm behind or in front, you always approach it exactly the same. I'm here to win. I know that I have to win, or at least score a lot more points now until the end of the season.

"But I'm fine, it doesn't change anything. Would I like to keep the number one on the car? Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's the best number. But I'm also not too stressed about it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. It's not that I'm going to be crying in Abu Dhabi. I'm relaxed," the defending world champion concluded.

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