Relaxed Verstappen has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts down McLarens / Photo: Ozan KOSE - AFP
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Relaxed Verstappen has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts down McLarens
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen said Thursday he has "nothing to lose" as he looks to extend his late-season resurgence at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was all but out of the title race two months ago as the McLarens of championship leader Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris dominated.
But back-to-back wins in Monza and Baku have left third-placed Verstappen 69 points behind Piastri, who crashed last time out, and 44 behind Norris.
But Verstappen is not thinking of the title, not yet anyway, even with seven grands prix and three sprints remaining, starting with the steamy Marina Bay Circuit this weekend.
"I just see it as a race-by-race thing, 69 points is still a lot, especially if you look at how the season has gone so far," he said.
"I mean, McLaren has been incredibly dominant. That doesn't suddenly change."
Red Bull have a poor recent record in tropical Singapore, where a high downforce set-up is required and extremes of weather, heat and humidity guaranteed.
Baku and Monza were both low downforce layouts, which the Red Bull tends to relish.
"Some tracks naturally will be a bit better for us. Some probably a bit worse. Maybe this one a bit worse," Verstappen admitted.
The Dutchman said he was not "stressed" as he targeted a maiden win in Singapore, after coming second to Norris 12 months ago.
"If we win, it's great. If we don't, we don't. I'm just not too stressed about anything," Verstappen said.
"(There's) nothing to lose. As a team, we just approach it like that.
"We try to do the best we can and try to be more competitive on a track like this.
"That's what we hope will happen. And then we'll see what happens from here."
Verstappen would realistically need to win most of the remaining races and still need the McLarens to falter to win the title.
But Baku showed that Piastri was not infallible.
"If we can win a few more it would be nice," said Verstappen.
"If that means that we didn't win the championship, then so be it.
"I don't think anyone is too focused on one single goal, but yeah, we just try to do the best we can."
D.Nikolaou--AN-GR
