Q: Max, you have been the subject of a lot of talk and opinion with your moves on track at Spa. Would you do the same all over again?
Max Verstappen: To be honest, Spa for me is done. In general it was a great weekend. I enjoyed it a lot to see that the orange colour was so dominant there - that was amazing to see. Reflecting on the race: things like that happen. That’s how I see it. And now I am focusing on Monza and no thoughts of Spa any longer.
Q: Will you moderate your driving style in any way?
MV: Why should I? And I just said that I don’t like to stay in the past. What happened happened - and this is another race weekend where I will push as hard as ever. I do my thing - with my driving style as it always was.
Q: When you say ‘what happened happened’, what exactly did happen in your view?
MV: …better ask what didn’t happen! (Laughs) Yes, true, Turn 1 was unfortunate - and later I had some position fights again. There have been no penalties given, so there is no reason to change something.
Q: Were you surprised that the fight for position was a bit too intense for the ‘Iceman’ Kimi Raikkonen’s liking?
MV: First of all, I don’t think that it was too intense. And in the end here you always have comments from people. The same discussions would have come up if I had been behind him. For me it would be unimportant - but as I just said, people will always make comments.
Q: After the Grand Prix you mentioned that the two Ferrari drivers destroyed your race. But when looking at the images again, it suggests that Kimi was just as much a victim as you. He was getting squeezed just like you. So if there were somebody to take the blame then it would have been Sebastian Vettel…
MV: That is all talking about spilt milk. Sometimes these things happen in the race. And my guess is that we all learned from it.
Q: The stewards have talked to you. What did they say? Did they suggest changing your driving style?
MV: No. And all these talks are a bit foolish. You, of course, want to defend your position - and if somebody wants to attack that’s up to him. And just because somebody eventually says that you should change your driving style… that’s nonsense.
Q: But there are still people, including your team principal Christian Horner, who said that you have been slightly on the limit. Is your limit different to others’?
MV: Did he say this? For sure not to me!
Q: What then did he say to you?
MV: That I was a victim - especially in Turn 1. And after that there is not much to say about it.
Q: Have you learned anything from Spa?
MV: Why should I? And then we all can learn from Turn 1, but that is something between me, Sebastian and Kimi - and nobody else. Maybe we should have all given each other a bit more space, but in the end it was a bit of an unlucky situation. My guess is that Sebastian didn’t see what was on the inside of Kimi - and there you go.
Q: After the race Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said that your behaviour reminded him of a young Ayrton Senna or Lewis Hamilton…
MV: To be honest I haven’t read a lot of comments, but to be compared with these two is always welcome. But in the end I only focus on what I have to do and I’m not thinking about whom I can be compared with when doing something.
Q: Can it be that the first-corner incident at Spa was the result of your slow start? Had you started better you wouldn’t have been at that spot…
MV: I don’t think that my start was the initiator to that situation, because you are still on the inside. Yes, if you have a better start you probably are not in that situation - but I still believe it was not caused by my start.
Q: Have you tried to talk to Kimi?
MV: Yes I have tried to talk to him, but there is no time from his side as they are extremely busy here.
Q: What is your plan for Monza?
MV: To do my thing. I think it will be a great weekend again. In terms of how well the performance will be, I think it will be a bit harder this weekend with the long straights. So it will be all about getting a good balance - and then let’s see what happens. I very much believe that we still will have a good weekend.
