Max Verstappen: I am very happy with this victory

Max Verstappen summarized the successful weekend after the race in Jeddah…

Question: Max, great job! The race seemed to go perfectly. How did you feel in the cockpit?
Max Verstappen: Very good variety. After the safety car came out, it became clear that we had to go to the pits. I understood that there was still a very long distance to go to the finish, but almost everyone did the same.

The car performed very well all weekend, perhaps even slightly better than expected. And yes, I am very happy with this victory.

Q: More excited than a week ago in Bahrain?
Max Verstappen: The race in Bahrain was also very good. So it’s hard to say. Very different scenarios. Here the tires hardly wore out, but in Bahrain the wear was high.

Q: You reached the podium for the 100th time in Formula 1, despite completing only 188 races. An impressive achievement! What do you think?
Max Verstappen: I think I missed 88 stages! No, of course I’m very happy with it, but I don’t really like looking at statistics. I want to get the best possible result in every race in the future.

Question: Australia is leading the way. How different is the course at Albert Park?
Max Verstappen: This is a very different circuit, especially now – with a new configuration and new asphalt. Next week we will go into the simulator and try to find the optimal settings before we arrive in Melbourne. As the weekend progresses, we’ll see what we can do. Now it is impossible to predict.

Q: After overtaking Lando, you were confidently in the lead, so you were almost invisible on the broadcast, focusing on the battle of other pilots. Did you have any challenges during this race that we didn’t see?
Max Verstappen: The hardest part was maintaining a consistently high pace while trying not to take any risks. But the car was already doing very well on Friday, I felt comfortable.

Question: Following up on your words about Helmut Marko’s support and your dedication to him. From the outside, it seems that if you were to leave Red Bull now or at the end of this season, you would potentially be giving up at least one world title, and possibly more…
Max Verstappen: I have always said that the most important thing is the work of the team and the atmosphere within it. The positive thing about this whole situation is that it has not affected our performance in any way. So this is a very strong team.