Max Verstappen lost about five kilos in the winter to regain his weight of 74 kilograms. In December, the Red Bull driver often lets go of the strings, because the Formula 1 season has come to an end. But in January Verstappen picks up the thread and starts training full house. Within six weeks, the Dutchman was back at his desired weight, even before the start of the test days in Bahrain.
“I feel like I’m below my normal weight all year round,” Verstappen starts in conversation with De Telegraaf . ‘I then give myself a month to eat and drink what I want and enjoy myself a bit. It feels good to me this way. Some like it better to be consistent throughout the year, for that matter. I actually like not thinking about training for a month and then going full gas again in January.’
Verstappen ‘hurts’ himself in January
For Verstappen, the month of January is all about losing weight and getting completely fit. “I like to hurt myself a little bit then,” he says. The race weekend starts again next weekend, in Bahrain. Verstappen is happy that he can start the season with a car at weight this time. ‘That car (from last season, ed.) was even more overweight than the kilos I gained in December. So that’s quite a bit.’
Verstappen is more than satisfied with the current RB19. He already noticed this in February, during the Red Bull film day. ‘It was very cold, in the morning the track was still frozen. You saw that it had been sprinkled. I said to my engineer Gianpiero: ‘I’m going full throttle in that first corner’. He said, ‘No, you can’t.’ When I came out in the car, it immediately felt good, so I just did it. It also means that I immediately felt good in the car,” concludes Verstappen.
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