Despite a 46-point lead at the top of the 2022 F1 World Championship, Max Verstappen believes Red Bull still has room for improvement. The Dutchman cited the example of the Canadian GP, where Ferrari was faster in the race
The sixth victory in nine races so far in 2022 has given Max Verstappen a comfortable lead: he already has a 46-point advantage over second-place teammate Sergio Pérez and a 49-point lead over Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc. But the Dutchman believes it is still too early to point out Red Bull as the favorite, since the RB18 still needs to improve in some areas.
In Canada, stage of the last round of the season, Verstappen had to defend himself from the attacks of Carlos Sainz, who tried by all means to overtake the reigning world champion and only failed because, according to the Spaniard, it was too windy on the main straight and there was too little DRS.
"We still have a very long way to go. I know that the gap is very big, but I also know that everything can change very quickly," Verstappen said, then recalled that he has been in exactly the same situation before: after his second abandonment in three races, he exited Australia, the third race of the year, 46 points behind Leclerc.
"We need to stay calm and focus, and we need to improve. Today [last Sunday, the day of the Canadian GP] we were not the fastest," stressed the #1. "Last weekend [in Baku], we looked good in the race, and now we weren't so much, but we still managed to win. It's a quality, and we just have to work together with the whole team to try to look for small improvements in the car," he added.
After a complicated start, Red Bull managed to put together a sequence of six victories and now sees its Italian rival suffering from reliability problems. Leclerc has so far had two breakdowns due to engine problems, so much so that the team opted to replace the entire power unit of the #16 car for Canada. The Monegasque started from the back of the grid as punishment.
Commenting on Ferrari's weekend performance, Verstappen believes that what has been seen so far shows that there is still a very strong balance. "I don't think they were always faster on Saturday and slower on Sunday. I think in Barcelona, they were also fast in the race, and there were others like that."
"It oscillates a little bit. We need to understand, of course. It also rained on Saturday, and maybe that didn't help us on Sunday, with the track less grippy. But that's what we have to analyze. Maybe the layout, the zebras, whatever. We will analyze it, but it's hard to explain now why they were faster than us in the race," concluded the Red Bull representative.