Max previews Baku: 'It's a challenging track but as a team we want to win'
Published on 03 June 2021 by Stefan Meens
Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Max chatted with the motorsport press to preview the sixth round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
The streets of Baku provide a unique challenge. “I normally prefer traditional race tracks, which is not the category that Monaco or Baku fall into. I just enjoy conventional circuits a bit more because you can really push to the limit. But it’s the same for everyone so we’ll give it our best. Baku isn’t easy so that does make it interesting."
Baku is a varied circuit with a very long straight but also several very slow corners. How will this affect the set-up of the RB16B? “The nature of the track makes it difficult to find a good set-up that feels good in every corner. Because of the long straight, we run less downforce, the downforce we would’ve wanted the rest of the track. It means we’ll be sliding a lot. It also very windy in Baku. That makes it more challenging as pretty much all F1 cars nowadays are very wind sensitive.”
In the championship standings, Max is a few points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Will the Dutchman and Red Bull Racing be able to keep their noses in front? “It’s difficult to gauge how we’ll compare to Mercedes around here. You can drive in Baku with several wing configurations, with little or lots of downforce, and still set the same lap time. We’ll have to be straight on it to have a good weekend. Of course, we’ll go for the podium, but as a team we want to win.”
