In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel isn’t disappointed the record of 13 wins in a season he shared with Michael Schumacher has been broken.
In brief
Vettel wants Verstappen to reach 16 wins
Max Verstappen scored his record-breaking 14th win of the season on Sunday. Verstappen, a previous holder of the record, offered his congratulations and says he hopes the world champion can add two more before the season ends.
“Well done,” said Vettel. “I think he’s had a hell of a season, so hopefully he gets 16 at the end of the year. Everything else will be a disappointment, no?”
While Verstappen and Red Bull have become increasingly dominant as the year has gone on, Vettel pointed out they also won races when their car was less competitive. “Obviously they have momentum from last year, the car this year is incredible. They won races even though they were heavier than everybody else. I think by now they probably got the weight out so the car is there but Max is doing an amazing job.”
Vettel drove for Red Bull between 2009 and 2014 and wore a tribute helmet to the company’s late founder Dietrich Mateschitz last weekend. He said their success this year is “Great for the team, I still know some people there so I’m really happy for them.”
Perez targets race pace improvements in 2023
Sergio Perez says he needs to switch focus to improving his race pace next year. The Red Bull driver has won twice this year, but his team mate has a dozen more victories.
“I think the lesson from this year is that, you know it’s been a great year as a team, [but] I do need to step up a bit my race pace, mainly. Where last year was more the qualifying, I think.
“With these cars, you are able to race a lot closer, so I think we need to step up that race pace. The understanding with the team, with the car, I think that has come better in the last few races. So, I believe we are heading on the right track.”
Szafnauer urges Gasly to take care
Pierre Gasly needs to “be a little bit more careful” to ensure he doesn’t collect a race ban says Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer. Gasly picked up his tenth superlicence point in Mexico, leaving him two away from an automatic ban, after he forced Lance Stroll off the track.
Gasly will retain those points until after he makes his debut for Alpine at the start of next season. ”
I saw what happened today and at this point I’m not biased, it looked 50-50 to me,” said Szafnauer. “But he will just have to be more…
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