Max Verstappen Ready To Keep Pushing
With two weeks between Monza and Russia, the collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in Italy has been replayed and dissected over and over by media and fans alike.
One man who is looking forward, not back, is Verstappen, who insists the best way to keep making progress is to keep pushing.
‘I think you can reflect all you like but it’s important to look forward and keep pushing. I still believe it was a racing incident, but we have been given a three-place grid penalty and we just have to work with it now. The race in Monza definitely wasn’t our day for many reasons, but now I just plan to look forward to Sochi.
‘It was great to finish second there last year in Sochi especially as it has never been a good track for us as a Team. We have been more competitive this year and we have a better package at the moment so it will be interesting to see how competitive we can be there this year. It will be of course completely different to Monza and it looks like there might be some rain this weekend. The track itself and the layout is completely different to the previous races so I’m definitely looking forward to going back there and seeing what we can do.
‘The penalty is of course not ideal but nothing is lost, that’s how I look at it. As for the Drivers’ Championship, we still have a lot of races ahead of us and it’s a very tiny margin. We will try and make the most from the weekend and work with the package we have,’ said Verstappen.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez had a strong recovery drive at Monza, and is ready to do everything he can in his teams fight for the Constructor’s Championship.
‘We knew going into Monza that it wasn’t our best track and it was a shame to lose the podium after the race with the penalty, but there are plenty of positives to take from the weekend. We’re going to a very different kind of track in Russia and so I really hope we can continue our form and start strong on Friday.
‘It is very important we help each other out and try to get the most from each weekend for the Team, especially as we come towards the end of the season where there are less races to capitalise on.
‘Mercedes have won every race at Sochi since 2014 so they’re the favourites this weekend. They’re definitely going to be hard to beat but like always we will give it our best. Sochi is a track I like because it is very technical, fast and fluid which I think makes qualifying quite exciting,’ added Perez.