McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes that Red Bull Racing falls behind its sister team Racing Bulls in the title race. Max Verstappen responded to this in conversation with GPblog and other Dutch media - after his brilliant pole at Silverstone - stating he has an idea why the American would say something like that. While Max Verstappen claimed his 44th pole position in Formula 1, as Yuki Tsunoda - not for the first time - failed to even reach the final phase of qualifying.
Stuck in twelfth position, the Japanese driver faces another challenging Sunday afternoon. Scoring some points is presumably the goal, although proving difficult enough this season. For Red Bull,
Tsunoda has only secured seven points. Verstappen analyzes the Brown-Horner relationship
At first glance, Brown's comment does not seem so strange: It is quite possible that without Verstappen, Red Bull might fall behind the smaller team. However, Max Verstappen prefers not to delve too much into that logic: "There's not much I can do with that", he initially states.
But when pressed further, the Dutchman makes a revealing statement. "I always just do my best in the car to maximize everything. I think Zak and Christian don't like each other, hence such comments are made. There's not much I can do with that."
Verstappen also realizes such statements are part of psychological warfare. "That's always the case in Formula 1."