Max Verstappen confirmed that the team had a positive winter break, sharing that he feels “comfortable” with Red Bull and that everyone is ready for 2024.
After a dominant season, the three-time world champion is ready to defend the title once again. He admitted that repeating the success Red Bull had in 2023 won’t be easy, but he is happy that the engineers didn’t choose a conservative approach with the new RB20.
“These kinds of things [22 wins out of 23 for Red Bull] are difficult to top,” said Max. “I think it’s not our goal, we want to deliver another competitive car and from my side, I’ll try to deliver the best I can.
“I’m happy with the direction the team decided to follow. I saw the drawings [of the RB20] in Abu Dhabi, and they were quite different in a way and they [engineers] have not been conservative.
“What I like about the team is that we had a great package, but they took the chance to go all out and make it better. Of course, only time will tell if it’s really good, but from what I see, everyone is happy with what they’ve achieved.”
Later on, Verstappen admitted being “comfortable” inside Red Bull’s environment after being asked whether he would like to join Ferrari like Lewis Hamilton. Then, he added that, despite the rumors and the investigations related to Christian Horner, everyone inside the team is motivated and all is like it has always been.
“It’s the same as always,” the Dutch said, referring to his relationship with Christian Horner. “I mean, I don’t know who likes to write these kinds of things, but between me and Christian is like always.
“From my side, I’m very focused on my own form to get ready, to be fit, and be ready to drive the car.
“Everyone is very motivated, of course we are very happy with what we achieved last year and the year before, but we are also very proud of this car. We are just looking forward to the start of the new season, and of course, trying to fight for wins again.”
Speaking about his first feelings and his debut at Silverstone with the new car, Verstappen admitted that he didn’t try it with all the new updates, and the conditions of the track were tricky as it was wet. However, he admitted that everything was fine and the sensations in the simulator were positive.
“It was wet and cold [at Silverstone], but everything was fine. It was just making sure that everything was running.
“I haven’t really tried the car with all the new parts together, but I prefer to drive the completed car in real life first to have accurate feedback, but so far I’m happy with the sim driving.”