No pressure from new Sainz deal - Verstappen

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Max Verstappen says Carlos Sainz being retained by Toro Rosso does not add any pressure on him to deliver for Red Bull.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner confirmed on Wednesday that an option on Sainz had been taken up which would see him stay with Toro Rosso next season after recent impressive performances. Horner also said it was a nice problem to have to juggle four talented drivers across the two teams, as Red Bull is able to place each one wherever it sees fit.

Despite the endorsement, Verstappen believes he proved himself against Sainz enough to ensure his seat at Red Bull never comes under threat from the Spaniard.

"No I don’t feel the pressure from Carlos to be honest," Verstappen said. "I think I’ve shown at Toro Rosso how to beat him in the races and in qualifying. In general, I never really feel pressure so it’s OK for me.

"But at the end, you always try to do the best possible job and I think that’s always the approach in whatever team you are. And as long as you do a very good job, you have more opportunities than only one team."

And Verstappen - who is contracted at Red Bull until the end of 2018 - hinted he feels Sainz is unlikely to be able to move up in the near future.

"It’s good for him I think, another year in Formula One. I don’t know what his chances are with other teams but it’s good for him.

"You always try to fight for yourself, isn’t it? You try to do the best possible job. They chose me and I’m of course very happy with that."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.