Verstappen reveals how he trained for the Bahrain Grand Prix: “Deep mental preparation of not giving an F”
This week, it’s time for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Last time Formula One cars drove at this track, George Russell and Charles Leclerc were the rookies that drove in the first practice session, Fernando Alonso was still driving for McLaren, and Max Verstappen scored his second race win.
Nine years, 69 victories and four world titles later, the Dutchman set foot on the Sepang International Circuit again. So much time had passed that he didn’t remember where to go: “I walked into the paddock and I had no idea where I had to go,” Verstappen said. “I always enjoyed racing here because I think I really liked the track layout.
“It was not very straightforward because there was always high degradation, hot in general, so quite uncomfortable in a way, to drive, physically. They are great, great memories but, had to get into the paddock, I had to get used again. It’s been a bit too long.”
Deep mental preparation
The recently turned 29-year-old is relaxed, which becomes very clear when he was asked about his preparation for this physically demanding track: “I think I had four or five months of very intense preparation. Deep mental preparation of not giving an F.
“Just rock up. It’s hot, but it’s also hot in Monaco. It gets very humid there as well. If you really want it hot, you go in the sauna or a steam room. I do that sometimes. You just need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. So that’s the case for everyone. It’s hot, sweaty, need a few more underwears, I guess. Just go with the flow.”
In the last nine years, the track has changed slightly. Most of the tarmac has been resurfaced, but not in turn 14. Verstappen talks about his thoughts during the track walk: “I mean, it still goes right in Turn 1 and then left. Tarmac in some places is a bit older, but normally just, yeah, it’s a little bit less grip or more degradation, but it won’t change the world.”
The new surface won’t make the race more interesting, according to the four-time-world-champion: “I don’t think that necessarily only depends on the tarmac. I mean, with these cars, you don’t know. It’s a new challenge.”
Rain dance
The weather forecast predicts a lot of rain for this weekend. Verstappen doesn’t seem bothered by that: “Yeah, so when it rains, it’s wet and when it’s wet, it’s very slippery.” His colleague Oliver Bearman asked if he should use the green [intermediate] tyres or the blue [wet] ones, to which the Dutchman simply said: “Depends on how wet. Normally when it’s wet, it’s slippery.”
The drivers already conquered some wet circumstances this year, so that practice might come in handy, although the Red Bull driver also notes that the situation was very different: “Yeah, it was slippery. No, it was actually slippery, but it was also really cold.
“Here it’s going to be a lot warmer, so probably they switch on a lot better. It will just depend on how wet it will get, what tyre to use. But, yeah, we know, of course, in the wet sometimes it can be a bit tricky, I guess, especially with these cars at times it can be a bit tricky.”
Improving
In the last three races, Verstappen has outscored both the Ferrari’s and McLarens, all by himself. Red Bull is finally back where it used to be: a regular podium contender. But Max won’t celebrate too early: “Unfortunately, we’re not outscoring Mercedes. They are actually the fastest ones, or at least they were for most of the season.
“But I’m trying everything I can. We are scoring, of course, quite a few podiums now, but I want to win. That’s what I’m here for and I’m getting close, but I want to at least win one race this year. I hope we can do it at some point. But we have some solid results.
“I think also the parts that we got on the car in Baku, they worked well. But we also know that Baku always has been quite a good track to us. It’s quite unique with the 90-degree corners.
“You don’t really have a lot of high-speed corners, so we have to wait a little bit now in the coming races [to see] how our car is going to perform, which is also quite good for us probably, to see all these different kinds of tracks because, for next year, we’ll probably learn a lot now over these coming races of what we need, what we want to do with the car.
“We’re anyway not fighting for the championship, so for us it’s a big learning curve. But, of course, the last few weekends have been a lot better than the start of the season.”
Fighting for a win
Mercedes will bring updates to Malaysia, which might make it even more difficult to catch up with them. Verstappen doesn’t think he will be able to bring the fight to the silver arrows: “Normally if you bring an upgrade, it should go faster. So, with them already being at the pace that they are, it will probably be very tricky. But it doesn’t matter. Every single weekend we’ll try and do our best and we’ll see where that leads us, of course, this weekend.”
On paper, the tracks that are still ahead this season are circuits where Red Bull usually delivers some good results. Does that bring hope to the team from Milton Keynes? Verstappen doesn’t automatically think it does: “You don’t really know because it also depends on what other people are bringing constantly. And I don’t really care, to be honest. ”
The Dutchman has one clear goal in mind: “As long as I win one, that would be nice.”
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