Max Verstappen has no intention of changing his approach now that he’s the Formula 1 world champion going into the 2022 season.
Verstappen won his inaugural world title in December in a controversial finale to the season in Abu Dhabi ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
This season’s F1 cars have undergone their biggest regulations overhaul for decades but, despite the shake-up, the defending world champion said at the launch of Red Bull Racing’s 2022 contender: “There is no reason to be different. I just do what I do all the time.
“As a driver now with the new regulations you have to get used to the car. It’s not like you jump in and it’s an upgrade from last year. That’s going to be the biggest adaptation. The rest is pretty straightforward.
“I’m just looking forward to getting back in the car to start driving it and see how everything’s handling.”
Red Bull were the first team to unveil their car, the RB18, for the 2022 season on Wednesday with launches set to follow this week from the likes of McLaren and Aston Martin.
Team principal Christian Horner said the team’s target was now to defend that drivers’ crown and target the constructors’ championship.
He said: “2021 will go down as one of the all-time great years.
“Our challenge is to build on that now we have the No1 on the car, to keep it on the car and defend that title with Max. We’ve got massive competition out there and we’re riding on the crest of a wave from last year.
“We’re aiming to build on what we achieved last year. The target is to retain the title and the big unknown [with the changes] is have we missed something with regulations and has another team stolen a march? We believe we’ve got a good car.”
