Verstappen: "I think we can just fight for the podium"

Max Verstappen will start today from third place and has a great chance for a podium place. If it is up to the Dutchman, victory is also possible. Prior to the Grand Prix, he told the official F1 channels that he is ready to take up the fight with Mercedes.

“I'm feeling good and ready to go. I think P3 was the maximum we could’ve achieved. We are still a little bit slower than them but it’s not too far that we are apart. Let’s see what we can do today," Verstappen explained. "It’s going to be a bit more windy and maybe a little bit of rain, who knows. That would be quite interesting."

Verstappen starts today on the softest tyre, while the two Mercedes drivers both start on the medium tyre. “I don’t know if the softer tyre will give me an advantage. Nobody really knows a lot about these tyres, so we’ll just go into the race and see what happens and try to make the best of it." 

The Dutchman starts on the left side of the grid, which many see as the clean side of the grid. "There haven’t been a lot of starts on the new tarmac, so I don’t know if it’s going to be an advantage to start on the clean side. We’ll find out during the race."

"I think we have had a good weekend so far. It is quite difficult to get the grip on the asphalt and the tyres to work, but we are going to see it today. I think we can just fight for the podium again and that is always positive, of course," concluded Verstappen.