Verstappen seeks to repeat Austria triumph
Drivers to take a knee to support Black Lives Matter before Sunday’s race
Red Bull’s home hope Max Verstappen will be looking to get the belated Formula One season off to a flyer with a hat-trick of home wins for Red Bull and an early lead in the drivers championship at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
For everyone involved, the race will be an unprecedented experience — the calendar is unknown beyond the first eight races in Europe in 10 weeks, all to be run behind closed doors and severe limitations introduced with a new paddock protocol forbidding meetings.
High expectations
When the race begins, it will end the longest gap between races in the sport since 1962, but with two successive races in Austria and then one in Hungary, the pressure will be immediate and intense.
Dutch driver Verstappen, who bullied his way past Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc to triumph in front of a mass of his “orange army” of fans last year, says he is unfazed by high expectations or the absence of spectators at the Red Bull Ring, a remote and compact circuit in the Styrian Alps.
“I am not thinking about a hat-trick,” he said.
“The most important thing for me is to have a competitive car and to perform at my best.
“I never consider myself as a favourite because, actually, when you look at the track, it’s not even our best one, but last year it was very warm and we were good at keeping the engine cool.
“So I don’t expect an easy win — I think Mercedes will be very strong again and they are the ones to beat.”