Verstappen: 'Red Bull must stay ahead of Ferrari'

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18-year-old Max Verstappen is heading to Belgium for the first time since becoming the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner in the sport's history, and is hoping to make it a home race to remember.

With no Grand Prix currently being held in the Netherlands, and with Verstappen himself born in the Belgian city of Hasselt, the Red Bull driver will certainly be able to claim 'local hero' status this weekend.

"I think so," said Verstappen when asked whether he viewed this week's race as his home event. "Even though I haven't driven here a lot, definitely I think this is the closest I can get.

"I think there are also a lot of fans coming and I'm definitely looking forward to that."

And if Stoffel Vandoorne were also to be promoted to full time Formula One status in 2017, then the Belgian fans could end up with split loyalties deciding which of their native drivers to support next season.

"I think it would be very positive of course for Belgian motorsport and you'll see even more Belgian flags here - they'll have to compete with the Dutch flags. We'll see what happens.

"If it happens I think it would be great in general for Belgium."

More immediately, Verstappen acknowledged that the most important thing this weekend is to ensure that Ferrari doesn't manage to get back on an even footing with Red Bull following the summer break.

"The last few races have been very positive for us, so we got the jump on them and now the most important thing is to stay ahead of course and try to close on Mercedes even though I think that will be very hard.

"We keep pushing, we keep developing, and so far that's been very positive for us," he said. "First of all we have to get the car working really well in terms of set-up and then we'll see what happens."

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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.