Even after dominating the 2023 F1 season like never before, Max Verstappen wants to get one step ahead in 2024. The Red Bull star wants the upcoming RB-20 to be much stronger than its predecessor, the RB-19, as he senses danger from his rivals.
Verstappen, speaking about this, said to Dutch Motorsport, “This year the competition has not really been consistent. One weekend it was this team, and a week later another team. Teams naturally learn under these regulations, so I expect it will be a lot closer next year.”
Following this, he explained what expectations he has from the RB-20 by adding, “You cannot express that in percentages, but there are still things that can be improved”. The reason Verstappen is sensing the danger is because of how Red Bull’s rivals improved this season.
While Mercedes and Ferrari remained consistent more or less, Aston Martin showed remarkable progress in the first part of the season. On the other hand, McLaren blew everyone away in the second half of the season. Therefore, Verstappen believes that these four teams can make significant development to catch up to Red Bull in 2024.
Max Verstappen not ready to slow down despite his dominance in 2023
Max Verstappen registered a staggering 19 wins out of the 22 races in the 2023 F1 season. In doing so, he took his third straight world championship and now aims to win a fourth.
In his record-breaking season this year, the Dutchman also took ten back-to-back wins and broke Sebastian Vettel’s long-standing record of nine consecutive victories. Furthermore, he also took third place in the list of drivers with most Grand Prix wins and is now placed only after Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
2023 – it’s been a record breaking year 🏆
A 🧵 of some of our special moments… pic.twitter.com/eRyfw1ctXF
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) December 4, 2023
Despite this, Verstappen has claimed that breaking records doesn’t interest him as long as he keeps winning. However, this may not be entirely true. Following the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the 26-year-old explained how he deliberately chose a particular strategy during the race to ensure that he led 1,000 laps over the course of the campaign.
Nonetheless, whether or not breaking records interest him or not, the expectation is that Verstappen is likely to script more history next season with the regulations remaining relatively stable.
