Max Verstappen identifies areas of improvement after first F1 title

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Max Verstappen might be Formula One world champion, but he’s intent on continuing to make small improvements to his approach which he feels is an endless journey.

The Red Bull star pipped Lewis Hamilton to the title in 2021, winning a contentious last-lap sprint in a race which could yet have more consequences in F1, both for those in decision-making positions within the FIA and even for his Mercedes rival, who has not yet confirmed his intention to return in 2022.

There are no such concerns for Verstappen over getting back on the track and while he’s hoping for a less-stressful climax to the season, he’ll be aiming for the same eventual outcome - being F1 champion.

To that end, he explained how he can keep improving and becoming an even better driver in future.

“For me, I always say to myself, you’re never perfect in any area,” he said in an interview with CarNext.com.

“So let’s say you’re at 98 per cent, whatever you can call it, I always look at it I can always improve. Because it’s not, ‘I can improve massively in this or massively in that’. It’s just tiny things, or, how can I try to influence the weekend a bit better?

“How can I prepare myself better? How can I make sure that I understand the balance of the car better for qualifying, [or the] race? These kinds of differences. How can I understand the tyres better? All these kind of things.”

While his approach to each Grand Prix might be in focus, Verstappen is hoping not to ‘improve’ the spectacle of the close-fought battle for supremacy.

Indeed, he doesn’t think it’s a likely occurrence - certainly not for the long haul. But Verstappen is also aware that for the supporters, it’s more of a pull to the sport to see an element of drama and jeopardy, rather than having a clear runaway leader from early on.

“I don’t need to improve on this! For me, it doesn’t need to be like this every single year. I don’t think you can last a long time in Formula 1 like that!

“But I’m happy, of course, how it played out. It was an amazing season, I think. A lot of unpredictable things happened. Of course, the two teams fighting against each other. That is always more exciting than when it’s one team dominating, and it’s just the two team-mates basically fighting.”