Verstappen happy with performance, foiled by results

Max Verstappen's season is so far a blend of mixed feelings, with the Red Bull racer happy with his car's outright speed but frustrated by the lack of results.

Verstappen retired early on from last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix after an engine failure thwarted his efforts in a race his says he could have won.

It was the teenager's fourth DNF in six races and one which harassed his frustrations. But as defeat subsides, Verstappen underlines the good level of performance now achieved by his RB13. 

"I think we were positively surprised in Baku," he said in a Skype talk with Dutch TV show Peptalk.

"The car was doing well but then I really want to score points. In terms of outright speed the whole year has been quite good, but in terms of scoring points it really hasn’t."

"During the race I wasn’t thinking about [reliability concerns] and then suddenly I had a problem again.

• Verstappen hit with heavy fine after media snub

"It's really gutting to drop out again when you’re in such a good position and if you look at what happened afterwards."

"The team expect me to do my best and I expect everything is perfect from Red Bull and the engine as well. It’s very tough. This was an engine problem and, unfortunately, not the first time.

"On Wednesday I’ll be in the simulator, at least there the engine can’t break down," Verstappen said tongue-in-cheek.

The Red Bull Racing driver was hit with a fine by the FIA for not speaking to the media after his retirement on Sunday, but believes he was right to skip the pen given his level of disappointment.

"I didn’t really feel like [talking] at that moment," he said.

"I stayed at the track for half an hour to talk about the race and the balance of the car with my engineers and then I left.

"I thought it was the smartest thing to do."

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