P1racenews AI automatic summary:
F1 champion Verstappen: I too have to "adapt to the car I get given"
In the past two seasons, Verstappen has excelled in his Red Bull car, winning 34 races and dominating the 2022 and 2023 seasons. His teammate, Sergio Perez, has struggled to keep up with the car’s development and setup. There have been suggestions that the Red Bull team revolves around Verstappen, as previous teammates Gasly and Albon also had difficulties keeping pace. Verstappen, however, believes that talk of his unique driving style is exaggerated and that he simply adapts to the car given to him. While he prefers a car with a strong front-end and can handle an unstable rear-end, the team’s focus is on creating a faster car, rather than chasing a specific balance. Verstappen is happy with the behavior of the car and adjusts his driving style accordingly, whether it’s more understeer or oversteer. As for Red Bull’s stronger race performance compared to qualifying, Verstappen doesn’t believe they do anything magical but thinks that other teams may excel in qualifying but struggle in the races. However, Red Bull still aims to be competitive in both qualifying and the race.
