The 2023 season is dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, but in Monza the topic of discussion is Lewis Hamilton’s contract extension with Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton signed a new contract with Mercedes that will keep him as a driver in Formula 1 beyond his 40th birthday. If it depends on Max Verstappen himself, we won’t be able to enjoy his skills in F1 for very long.
No, I already have a good idea of what I want to do outside Formula 1, said Verstappen. It is a great passion of mine and I want to live up to it.
Honestly, I’m not afraid to leave F1, it’s just how I see my life. I’ve been racing since I was four years old and at some point it’s enough. For me it’s not about winning seven, eight or nine world titles. Once you’ve won one, it’s the same in the end.
I already have a lot of plans outside of F1. It’s not that F1 is my life, it’s all I do. And that’s why I think I can easily do other things while I don’t travel that much at a certain point. Because at some point, enough is enough.”
In 2024, the F1 season will have no less than twenty-four races and Max Verstappen thinks that is too much: I already don’t like traveling as much as we do now.
This season he is a favorite every race, but that doesn’t mean that he comes to the races every race full of expectations.
Not at all, actually. I enjoy being at home but I also always know how to turn the knob and be there, ready to perform.
“I’ve always been that way,” he continues. “If I came home I would do my things and of course I know what to do for F1 related things. But I also think it’s very important to have my private life and really not think too much about Formula 1.”
This season Verstappen has already been at the party nine times and no one has ever scored ten victories in a row, but the world champion continues to take it race by race.
“We have won every race this year as a team, so we definitely want to do the same. But it is never easy, many things can go wrong and this is always in the back of your mind.”
Verstappen has an exceptionally good Red Bull F1 car available this year and it is often said that the good results are mainly due to the car, but Verstappen disagrees.
I know it’s not easy,” he says. “Every weekend we have challenges.”
“Of course we have a fast car, but I always compare this way: In F2 or F3 everyone has the same car, but the differences between the cars are very big. How did that happen?
“Ultimately it also means that if you don’t have the car set-up to show it, or if you don’t handle the car set-up properly, there are very big differences. That is no different in F1.”
“Of course every car looks different, but even if you have a dominant car and the set-up is not right, it will not look good. So we spend a lot of time optimizing things.”
“Of course we have an incredible season. But it’s not like we just get up and say, ‘ah, let’s just do this, this weekend’. It is a great effort from everyone to do the best they can.
“I think we also had a lot of weekends where it wasn’t so easy or when there were also weather conditions to always make the right decisions and basically not trip over. I think we can be very proud of that.
“And of course it’s never good, it’s never perfect. But I think we can be very proud of what we are doing at the moment.”