At today’s media session ahead of the British Grand Prix, Max Verstappen spoke about his years with Red Bull where only a couple of victories per season was possible during the dominant era of Mercedes.
The Dutchman was asked about the current situation his friend Lando Norris finds himself in. The British driver is clearly an extremely promising talent, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to fight for victories over the last couple of seasons.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen commented that Formula 1 is like that. He has no doubts Norris would delivering in machinery capable of winning, though.
“Unfortunately that is also a bit how Formula 1 is. I mean if Lando would be in a race-winning car, he would win races, it’s as simple as that.”
The Red Bull driver emphasised that the trust in both the process and the team must be full and above all sincere to know that you are in the right place:
“But sometimes you either stick to the process, you believe in the process. Again, people can say we believe in it, but you really have to believe in it.
“You need to know and see that you are attracting the right people to make a winning team and really get everything into place, and I did trust our process around it.”
The Dutchman admitted that he had his doubts about staying with Red Bull at times, but that these thoughts dissipated when he saw the team’s determination to make it work.
“Of course sometimes you are a bit sceptical. A new engine partner, is this going to work out? Then you can see how determined they were to make it work.
“Of course sometimes I had my doubts, like ‘is this actually going to work? I don’t know’. Of course sometimes I had this thought maybe I should leave. At the same time in those years, I was developing a lot as a driver.”
McLaren gave Lando Norris his break in Formula One and is currently in his fifth season with the Woking-based squad.
The two-time world champion took the opportunity to stress the importance of not forgetting who put you there and remembering to stay loyal in good times and bad.
“You never forget who put you in F1 in the first place, you also have to be loyal to that I find.
“People always say the grass is greener on the other side, but most of the time it’s not.
“I think it’s very important to remember these things in situations like that.”
