Verstappen jokes after his victory at Suzuka: with the McLaren, "you wouldn't see me anymore!"

Max Verstappen never misses an opportunity to joke... while also taking a dig at his rivals at the same time. The Dutchman is coming off one of the best weekends of his sporting career, after securing a sensational pole position on Saturday and a commanding victory on Sunday at Suzuka, during the Japanese Grand Prix. An almost unexpected success given the Red Bull RB21 seemed to be suffering from many ailments and above all, as the McLaren MCL39 seemed way above the rest. Even at the start of the Japanese weekend, the papaya single-seaters had shown a pace far superior to that of their rivals...

But removing Max Verstappen from the equation is a serious mistake, and the Dutchman was keen to point this out this weekend. After taking pole, the four-time world champion managed to contain the two McLarens, who were unable to threaten the leader. On a resurfaced circuit where overtaking was rare, neither Lando Norris, neither Oscar piastri could have just worried the Red Bill driver on Sunday at Suzuka. And it didn't take much for Max Verstappen to have fun.

After his brilliant victory, the winner of the Japanese Grand Prix mocked his rivals a little, saying that with their equipment he would have done much better than them and would have been much faster. "I'm very happy with what I'm doing at the moment. But I thought about what would happen if I was in [the McLaren]. (…) You wouldn't see me anymore!", he thus launched to Viaplay. And when the journalist says to him: “You would already be in Tokyo!”, the Dutchman replies: " Exactly ! »

Verstappen “ try to drive against the limits" of Red Bull

Some consider Max Verstappen's performance in Japan to be an achievement with a far-from-perfect RB21. The Dutchman knows he may not have the best car on the grid, but he's happy with it. The reigning champion, however, hopes that Red Bull can find solutions to the problems encountered with the car Austrian, who is known to be extremely sharp and sensitive. "I think we know our limits, and so we have to try to steer against those limits as much as possible, explained Max Verstappen. But yes, it's still not resolved. We hope this problem will be resolved soon, but I can't give you a timeline on that. It's just a matter of trying to find that limit, which is very tricky for us right now."

“It also means that I feel really concerned, even though, of course, the start of the year hasn't been the easiest for us. We're not where we want to be in terms of performance, I think that's no secret. But yeah, this weekend was really, really good, concluded the winner of the day. Fortunately, the balance also improved a little during qualifying. So, yes, we have to keep working."

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