Verstappen to 'regroup' amid 2018 crisis
- Published on 07 Jun 2018 11:24
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- By: Jeroen Jonkers
Max Verstappen says he will try to "regroup" after a difficult start to the 2018 season.
Many experts and pundits think the young Dutchman's career is in crisis, following an error-strewn first half of the year.
"The question for him is how he will handle this negative phase and how fast can he get out of the hole?" former F1 driver Timo Glock told Speed Week.
"It could keep going for the rest of the year."
And Jan Lammers, another former F1 driver and a Dutchman like Verstappen, told De Telegraaf: "Max does not have to change. And even if he wanted to, which is not the case, then it would not work.
"Racing is in his blood," he added.
Indeed, Verstappen said in Montreal that he is determined to put his 2018 season back on track.
"I would not call my start to the season frustrating, but rather unlucky," he told Le Journal de Montreal.
"It's heartbreaking what happened in the first part of the calendar. Now we need to try to regroup to deliver performances similar to the past two seasons.
"Consistency is one of the keys, but for the moment we don't have that," Verstappen added.
On the bright side, Verstappen will have an upgraded Renault engine this weekend in Canada.
"I'm sure I can expect a bit more performance," said the 20-year-old. "We'll have to wait for practice to see how the car will react to the changes.
"But I trust our car. If we can narrow the gap to the leading group, we can compete with the others."
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Replies (6)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Its between 10-30hp extra, so surely that will help. But he needs to cool down and just do it. He is a fast driver, we know that already and he has nothing to prove in that aspect, now he just need to be able to build on his consistency and reduce his accident proneness.
Kean
Posts: 692
Did you read his head-butt comment if someone asks him anymore questions about him crashing? If he crashes this weekend the following press conference is going to be pretty awkward. :-D
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Indeed.
TimberVD
Posts: 42
Indeed it would, but the headbutt comment is just about the best I've heard said for a long long time. F1 drivers are so politically correct boring. Standout press conference this was. He just needs to learn from his mistakes, and agree, who he is has brought him here and together with Ricciardo he has pretty much saved the sport. Without those two F1 would have been so incredibly boring for the last few years since the hybrid era began.
xoya
Posts: 583
I don't know why he is saying he lacks consistency since he has, pretty f-ing consistently, been crashing from the beggining of a season.
Freguz
Posts: 160
I think RIC is smiling a bit from behind, he just needs to keep his cool and let VER do his thing... and maybe it is best to sign with RB again.