Max Verstappen blasts fake F1 fans in tetchy response after Red Bull slump
Max Verstappen claimed those who complained about Red Bull's dominance this season before their winning streak ended are "not real fans".
Red Bull were on course to become the first team to win every single race in a Formula 1 season. However, their hopes of achieving that extraordinary aim were dashed last weekend as they endured a horrible Singapore Grand Prix, by their own lofty standards.
Still, both Red Bull and Verstappen are still having incredible seasons. The team can wrap up the constructors' championship this weekend with victory in Japan this weekend, as long as they outscore Mercedes in the process.
Verstappen will hope to get back to winning ways after driving to fifth from 11th on the grid in Singapore. He did not show too much emotion after that difficult Singapore weekend but, he insists, that was not because he felt a battle for the win among his F1 rivals was better for spectators.
"Honestly, I have zero interest in that," he flatly told reporters at Suzuka on Thursday. "For me, it was just we got beaten, in a very clear way. I don't think about what is good for Formula 1. I don't think it's necessarily bad what was happening to Formula 1 because we were just better than everyone else.
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"If people can't appreciate that, then you're not a real fan. But that's how it goes. That's why I was also super relaxed about it, because we didn't perform and other people did a better job than us. Then of course they deserved to win. They shouldn't win because people say it's boring that we are winning."
Pressed further on his feelings after his own record-breaking winning streak came to an end, he replied: "I have no emotion. Yeah, we stopped winning for one race. S*** happens! We won 10 in a row before that.
"So, of course I would have liked to win there as well. But I also know that there is always going to be a day where you have done that weekend where then you're not winning or things go wrong. And yeah, unfortunately, it was that weekend. We just move on and try again."
After a tough weekend in Singapore, Red Bull are confident of getting back to their most competitive in Japan. Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez said: "This track is very different so there should not be a reason why we are not strong in Suzuka. This should be one of the best circuits for us.
"We obviously have some good ideas [about] how we prepared the weekend and the misinformation we had where things went wrong. There's some good indications that we probably approached the weekend with the wrong set-up. [In the simulator] it felt good [at Suzuka] and it felt bad in Singapore. So, hopefully it aligns well and it can be a good track for us."
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