Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says Max Verstappen's focus was "razor sharp" ahead of last weekend's Italian Grand Prix, suggesting that the Dutchman was anything but indifferent to beating the record for the most consecutive wins in F1.
Verstappen claimed ahead of the sport's round of racing at Monza that reaching a new milestone of 10 wins in succession at the venue was not at the forefront of his priorities.
But while the championship leader repeatedly gave the impression of playing down the significance of the record, Horner could not help but notice that Verstappen's focus was more acute and incisive than usual last weekend.
"I wouldn’t say nervous, but I would say you could definitely feel that his focus was razor sharp, more than usual. You could see that it definitely meant something to him," Horner said.
"To get that 1-2 finish and for Max to be on his own with the most consecutive F1 wins at 10 victories is quite outstanding."
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Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko echoed Horner's perception on Verstappen's mindset.
"For Max, this winning streak means a lot," the Austrian said. "For me personally, getting the 100th win as a team was even more special than this, but it is fantastic for Max.
"Max was a little bit nervous to get it done here as well, for him it was really important I believe to break this record.
"Now he has it, so I think that is a bit more relaxing for the races that are coming."
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On the Mercedes camp's efforts to downplay Red Bull and Verstappen's milestone accomplishments, as expressed by both Lewis Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff, with the latter asserting that Verstappen's record was only worthy of a mention in Wikipedia – which "nobody reads anyway", Horner was reluctant to add fuel to the fire that continues to burn between the two teams.
"Look, I don't want to get drawn into commenting on that," said the Briton.
"Max is driving at an unbelievable level and I don't think there's anybody in the world right now that could beat Max Verstappen in this car, that's for sure.
"I think you have to recognise and applaud what Max is doing at the moment, we shouldn't detract from that in any way.
"In sport, very rarely things like this happen, and it's a golden moment for him and certainly a golden moment for the team."
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