29/08/2025 08:20
Max Verstappen has insisted it is "not that hard" to remain
motivated in Formula 1, despite being on the verge of a first title
defence failure. The four-time world champion enters this
weekend's Dutch Grand Prix a considerable 97 points adrift of
championship leader Oscar Piastri, with just 10 rounds remaining.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has already ruled
Verstappen out of a record-equalling fifth consecutive title,
whilst the Dutchman has counted himself out for months. It is set
to be an all-McLaren scrap for the drivers' title, representing the
first time in his F1 career that Verstappen has failed to defend
his crown. Red Bull's troublesome RB21 has denied Verstappen a
fair shot at going for a fifth consecutive title, although he
insists it has not dented his motivation for the remainder of the
season. "It's not that hard, to be honest," Verstappen told media
at Zandvoort, addressing the difficulty of remaining motivated.
"There will be a time that it won't happen. Unfortunately, that is
a bit the case at the moment. "But it doesn't make sense for me to
be frustrated or be screaming about it, because it's just a waste
of energy. That's not what I'm doing. "I think we just need to
look at the car and the operation and how we can move forward in
the future and be better. That's what we are doing currently."
Verstappen's home hopes Motivation is far from an issue for
Verstappen at his home race this weekend, where wet weather could
cause chaos. Since Zandvoort returned to the F1 calendar in 2021,
the home hero has claimed three victories but was denied a fourth
by Lando Norris last season. Whilst the Red Bull driver expects to
be closer to McLaren than the Austrian outfit was in Hungary, he
does not expect the circuit to suit the RB21. Asked if he expects
to be closer to the front than in Hungary, Verstappen said: "I
would hope so! That was not a great weekend for us, so I hope that
we can be closer. "I don't think this is going to be our best
track in the remainder of the calendar, but then again, there might
be some weather coming in as well. "So that always creates a bit
of chaos, so we just need to see what happens."
