Verstappen: "I will need a perfect weekend to win the title in Japan"

SUZUKA (JAPAN), Oct. 6 (dpa/EP) -

The Dutch Formula Max driver Verstappen (Red Bull) said this Friday that he will need "a perfect weekend" at the Japanese Grand Prix, the eighteenth round of the World Championship and which takes place at the Suzuka circuit, to become champion and raise his second consecutive title.

"It doesn't really change anything (being able to be champion at Suzuka), you want to have a good weekend and try to maximize everything you can and of course I need a perfect weekend to be able to win the title here, but to be Honestly, I'm not really thinking about it too much," he confessed from the Japanese track, which returns to the calendar three years later, after the break due to the pandemic.

The Dutchman, current Formula 1 champion, insisted that "it would be very good" if he won the title at Suzuka, given his team's relationship with Honda. "He would make it a little more special," he admitted, although he stressed that if it doesn't happen on the Japanese track, he will be "even more in favor at the next race."

"We really want to come back here and then we'll see what happens. We need a perfect weekend, that's for sure," insisted Verstappen, who leads second-placed Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by 104 points.

'Mad Max' will be crowned champion if he wins Sunday's race and gets the bonus point for the fastest lap, regardless of Leclerc's result. In short, he needs to get eight points more than the Monegasque and six more than his teammate, Sergio Pérez. He will have to wait for the next race in the United States, on October 22, if he falls out of the top 6.

Last weekend at the Singapore GP, the 25-year-old Dutchman missed a big opportunity by finishing seventh at Marina Bay, where Pérez won ahead of Leclerc. This season, Verstappen has climbed to the top of the podium eleven times.