Max Verstappen makes glum ‘just a fact’ admission about McLaren

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull will still be playing catch up to McLaren at this weekend’s F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion was happy to settle for second place and less than a second behind Lando Norris in a chaotic and wet season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

But Verstappen expects McLaren to hold the advantage once more in Shanghai, admitting they are currently “quite far ahead”.

“They're super strong,” the Dutchman said on Thursday. “I mean, I have a lot of respect for what they have done. You know, already last year and now they're very fast. Yeah, very all-round, good everywhere.

“So I think that is just a fact. Now how big the gap is or whatever is difficult to say. I think the clear picture that you saw was that McLaren was quite far ahead. Because I don't think I'm an idiot in the wet, but in the first stint I didn't really have a lot of chance to fight.

“I think in general we just need to be better as a whole; if you compare that to McLaren, they're good everywhere.

“It's impossible to really answer fully. I think myself, so Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari were all quite close. And probably will differ a bit track to track.”

Verstappen doesn’t buy Norris’s McLaren comments

Ahead of the weekend, Norris opened up on how the McLaren remains “difficult to drive” despite his convincing victory last time out in Australia.

The Briton insisted the MCL39 does not suit his driving style “at all”.

“I think in general some of the traits are the same [as last year’s car],” Norris explained. “It still doesn’t suit at all my driving style. I’ve got to a point where I’ve just accepted that you can’t have a car that suits your driving style – maybe it does suit some people’s.

“I kind of got to a point where I stopped maybe asking so much for what I want and [I’m] more just willing to do whatever makes the car quicker. It is probably a tricky car to drive and put together laps, but clearly it’s taken a step forward to last year.

“It’s my job to drive whatever car I get given, at the end of the day – that’s why I’m here, that’s why McLaren want me because they believe I can drive it in a better way than others can. [It’s] half and half, it’s similar characteristics and some of those characteristics I don’t like and do not suit the way I want to drive in an attacking way.

“It’s something I got used to, so I got to a point where I’ll just drive whatever car I have to drive – as long as it’s fighting for a win and quick enough to fight for a win, then I’m happy to drive what I get given."

But Verstappen, who experienced his own car struggles on his way to a fourth straight F1 world title last year, is not convinced by Norris’s comments.

“His own McLaren? Maybe he was joking,” Verstappen responded when informed of Norris’s comments.

“I don't want to compare scenarios. For sure, last year, when we started, I was already complaining that some bits were not to my liking, but we were still winning.”