10 January 2024 , 19:25
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Max Verstappen has rubbished the suggested he does not have to change the way he drives to suit his Red Bull cars.
For many years now, it has been suggested that the team designs its cars to suit Verstappen's driving style. That particular theory has been supported by some of his Formula 1 team-mates who feel they are at a disadvantage compared to the Dutchman.
Sergio Perez is his current partner and has been comprehensively outscored in each of their three seasons together to date. Last year, the Mexican's father responded by perpetuating the claim that Verstappen gets special treatment.
"The car is set for Max because he drives with all the grip at the front and Checo has done it all the time with the grip at the back, said Perez Snr. "The position Checo is in is the one he was hired for, second place.
"There is only one champion and you have to understand that. He has to work for it and respect it. All this was built for Max to be a champion and you have to understand and respect it. If he moved to another team he could be fourth or sixth."
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Verstappen, however, is adamant that he does not have such a radically different driving style despite suggestions to the contrary. Speaking to Motorsport.com, the triple world champion insist he too has to change the way he goes about his work on track.
He said: "When people ask you, 'What is your driving style?', I can't tell you because it's about being able to adapt to certain situations or what the car likes as well. What do I want? I want more grip. There's a lot of things that you want, some things are not realistic. So, I just adapt to the car that I get given.
"Throughout the year, the team just applies upgrades to the car to make it faster. Not to try and follow a certain balance direction or whatever. It’s just overall load, overall grip, that you gain from upgrades.
"I'm quite happy with the behaviour of the car, but if the car is a little bit more understeery I have to adapt my driving to that. Or, if it's more oversteery, it's the same way.
"I think it's been quite okay. Some races anyway you have more oversteer or more understeer. It's very up and down in terms of balance, it's not always on the nose. Some tracks you cannot run it like that."