Verstappen: Victory eases 'doubts' over future
Max Verstappen appears to have cemented his place at Red Bull with a thrilling victory in Austria.
Earlier, it had emerged that a clause in the Dutchman's contract may allow him to switch to a rival team like Mercedes for 2020.
But Max's father Jos Verstappen told the Finnish broadcaster C More that the 21-year-old is happy at Red Bull.
Asked what the best team for Verstappen is, Max's father answered: "Red Bull. Where we are now.
"I know there's all sorts of speculation about his contract, but it should not be forgotten that we really like Red Bull," Jos said.
"It's a top team that is working with every effort to be more competitive all the time. It's great that Red Bull and Honda have joined forces and are moving towards a common goal."
Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull's driver manager, also played down the recent contract talk.
"There are all sorts of experts who think they know better than Max or us about the contract," he is quoted by the Dutch publication Formule 1.
"Our goal is still to make Max the youngest world champion.
"People called me stupid when I said we wanted five victories (in 2019), but I still think we can do it," added Marko.
And so a thrilling win on Sunday has now made it even more likely that Verstappen is staying for 2020.
"I think this is very important for us and also for the future, for Honda as well," Verstappen admitted on Sunday.
"It just gives us a lot of confidence and maybe a few doubts are going away because of it. At the moment it's an amazing feeling," said the 21-year-old.
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The stewards made the right call. Verstappen's move was absolutely brilliant and in my view was totally legal.
How is it that Verstappen can force the car of Leclerc of track and keep the win. the stewards was quick enough to take the win from Vettel at Canada, and also put Danny Ricciardo back places too. but they let Verstappen keep the win. it is outrageous.
Actually it's quite simple. Max passed Charles (a really great driver) on the inside, which is the way to do it. Charles then tried to defend his position from the outside and he lost that argument... The stewards called it a draw which is what it was. The Vettel thing is entirely different.
It's also a pretty certain thing that Max was going to pass Charles anyway with three laps to go, even Charles admits this. By all standards Max ran a better race, making up 14 seconds on Charles.
Maybe Charles should have worked to build up his lead when his tires were still good; with Max on the track you never know what can develop! Max did not get in F1 at 17 by the luck of the draw.
Max is a very exciting driver to watch. He is great for F1. Just what the sport needs. There shouldn't be any whining and crying over his victory.
My bet was on Max to win the Austrian GP and I was not surprised that he did it and he always goes for it no matter what and it was thrilling to watch him get back to the front after having lost a few places at the start. I am not sure how Ferrari lost so much time , nobody expected Max to catch Leclerc, it was inevitable there would be a tussle between those two so nobody should have been surprised at what happened and I am of the opinion that in the end stewards made a wise decision not to punish Max.He has a great chance to win a few more races if Red Bull give him a right gear. I think that Leclerc will have to wait for another chance to get even with Max as he needs to learn a few more tricks and become wiser.
Ferrari and Charles are both to blame, with a 14 second lead being cut down they should of pushed and taken the win. How many F1 drivers have blown a 14 second lead.
Ferrari lost the race for Charles. If you listen to teamradio on lap 14 Charles asked pit wall to 'tell me when to push, telle when to push. The reply was: target 1.10 so we are fine. Charles knew how the race would progress and Ferrari strategy SCREWED HIM UP AGAIN.