Max Verstappen has defiantly dismissed criticism of his driving in the aftermath of winning his fourth Formula One world title in Las Vegas last weekend.
Speaking before this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round, the Red Bull driver bullishly insisted he would not change his ruthless style, which has been both penalised and criticised.
“On the track I will put it all on the line,” he said. “I am not going to back out. I want to win. That needs to be the end result. Some people criticise me for that. But most of them don’t have a championship-winning mentality so they don’t understand and they will never understand that kind of approach.”
Verstappen won the title despite not having the quickest car for the second half of the season. However, while under intense pressure he was aggressive in both attack and defence, the legality of which was questioned by other drivers, including his title rival Lando Norris. Former world champion Damon Hill also took him to task as did former driver Martin Brundle, who believed it had “tainted” the world champion’s legacy.
Verstappen has previously dismissed this as British bias against him, which he reiterated in Qatar. “The problem in F1 is that 80 to 85% of the media is British and I did feel that some things which were written about me were not fair,” he said. “At the end of the day, yes, [I have four titles] and they are the ones in front of a microphone. I speak out. I don’t care. If I don’t agree with something I will tell you.”
Verstappen also confirmed his commitment to stay with Red Bull that he had stated immediately after taking the title in Las Vegas. He has won all four championships with Red Bull, with whom he is contracted until 2028, but said he felt no need to prove anything by securing a title with more than one team.
“It is not like I need to try to win the world championship somewhere else,” he said. “It would be very beautiful if you just could stay with one team and race there forever. I would like to believe [that could be with Red Bull]. That is the target. Am I bothered about a legacy? No. I don’t value my success because of what other people say.”
Verstappen has the drivers’ world championship but the constructors’ title, which means the most to the teams and decides the scale of the prize money each receives at the end of the season, remains very much up for grabs over these final two rounds.
McLaren, who have not won it since 1998, before either of their current drivers, Norris and Oscar Piastri, were born, enter the meeting at the Lusail circuit leading Ferrari by 24 points. To seal the title would be the culmination of a long and painful comeback for the team.
With 103 points on the table over the final two rounds they need to outscore the Scuderia by 21 points to complete the job in Qatar and ensure they are 45 ahead before the final round in Abu Dhabi. With this weekend the last of the season to host the sprint format, a maximum of 59 points can be scored at a track where last season McLaren were enormously quick and Ferrari struggled. However, in first practice Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc headed the timesheets in front of Norris and Piastri, with Carlos Sainz in fourth.
In qualifying for the sprint race on Friday evening McLaren very much had the upper hand, with Norris on pole from Mercedes’ George Russell and Piastri in third. “To bounce back from Vegas is a nice thing to do,” said Norris. “We were coming here to get pole, so job done today. I want to win, our target is a one-two to maximise points for the constructors.”
Ferrari’s Sainz and Leclerc could manage only fourth and fifth. Verstappen was sixth with Lewis Hamilton in seventh. The sprint race will take place at 2pm on Saturday with qualifying for the GP at 6pm.
