31/08/2023
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen has hit out at Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff for his questioning of the "odd" gap in performance between he and teammate Sergio Perez.
Speaking last week, Wolff said that he found it "odd" and "bizarre", that the world champion put his car on pole while the Mexican could only manage seventh, 1.3s down.
"Bizarre," said the Austrian. "I mean, Checo is not an idiot.
"We have seen it all these years, Checo is a grand prix winner, a multiple grand prix winner," he added. "And he was a winner at Racing Point, so I cannot comprehend.
"We've seen that Max has destroyed every single team-mate that was with him. Whether it is his ability to create a car around himself that is just very tricky to control, but fast when you can control it, and that creates those gaps. But 1.3? I obviously haven't heard any explanations, but yeah, odd."
Job done, the blue touch paper lit, Verstappen took the bait.
"Bullshit comments!" he told reporters at Monza today. "It's not like that, I just drive the car the fastest way possible.
"I'm not there to tell the guys to give me more because that's how I like it," he added. "I just say 'design me the fastest car and I'll drive around that' because every single year, every car drives a little bit differently.
"People ask 'what is your driving style?'," he continued. "My driving style is not something particular. I adapt to what I need for the car to go quick. For me, what is very important is that you are able to adapt your driving style to what the car needs."
Like many drivers, Verstappen is driven by results not statistics, yet even he admitted that being on the cusp of becoming the driver with the most consecutive wins in the history of the sport is something special.
"I never thought that I would win nine in a row, first of all," he said. "Now that we are here, of course, I try to win ten, but it's more about I want to just win. It's not about the number ten in my head.
"Also that helps a lot to focus on the weekend," he continued. "It's already difficult enough different with the different tyre choices we have to deal with. We'll just get on with it and we'll see what happens."
Asked about when Sebastian Vettel reached nine consecutive wins, the Dutchman said: "I remember when he did it. I was like, 'wow! That's just a crazy number. No one ever will do something like that', and here we are. It is a crazy number, but I'm not really too fixated on it."