"He will not be able to overtake me on the outside": Max Verstappen offers a blunt assessment of his racing approach

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed that his racing approach ensures that no driver can pass him on the outside while racing wheel to wheel against him. The three-time F1 world champion is one of the most fierce drivers in the sport's history and is known to offer no margin to his opponents on the track.

Ever since his debut in 2015, Verstappen has made a name for himself for being one of the toughest drivers to overtake on the track despite the position. The Dutch driver makes it difficult for his rivals as he defends to the maximum track allowed and sometimes even allegedly pushes them outside the extremities.

While discussing his defensive driving tactics to BBC on Thursday, November 21, Max Verstappen gave a blunt assessment of his abilities and said that he would want to give the other driver the room to overtake:

"Well, me personally, I don’t race like that," Verstappen said. "When I race with someone, he will not be able to overtake me around the outside. That’s how I grew up racing. Some drivers are just a bit more passive in racing, that’s just how they are. And I know that in F1 I can’t hang it around the outside because they will push me off. It’s a racing instinct."

When asked how he expects his fellow drivers to overtake him, the Red Bull driver replied:

"It depends on the track layout. Of course, when the track is naturally the limit, no-one tries to go around the outside because they know that, so you then try to go for the cut-back or set yourself up in a different way."

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Max Verstappen analyses his Friday practice at the Las Vegas GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said he had "no grip" during the first two practice sessions at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix as he finished P5 and P17 in FP1 and FP2 respectively.

Speaking to F1.com, the 27-year-old said:

“Yeah, [it was] slippery," Verstappen said. "I think we struggled a lot with making the tires work, over one lap especially. The long run I think started off a bit more competitive, but even there I think we need to fine-tune a few things. The one-lap pace is quite far off."

"Of course, it’s quite unique conditions around here and it’s very cold, but at the end of the day, it’s the same for everyone, so we need to try and understand what we’re doing wrong at the moment. The balance of the car is not even that wrong, I think, it’s just we have no grip – it’s like driving on ice at the moment,” he added.

Max Verstappen has a massive opportunity to win his fourth successive driver's championship this weekend if he finishes ahead of his championship rival Lando Norris in the main race on Saturday night.