Max Verstappen warns the measured approach needed in a championship fight will make him "even better".
After years of being close but not close enough, it finally appears as though the Dutchman and his Red Bull team have a package that could challenge Mercedes throughout the 2021 season.
If that is the case, it would be the first chance to see how Verstappen handles the pressure of a championship scenario, but he appears more than comfortable about the prospect.
“I think once you are in that position anyway, having a car to fight for the title, everything becomes a lot easier,” he told Motorsport.com.
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“Of course, there’s pressure to win a championship because you’re fighting other people.
“But, overall, I think it’s a much better situation to be in because when you are not, then you have to take a lot more risks all the time to try and get a good result out of it.
“You have to risk it a bit more on Lap 1 or a certain area in the race and then of course, mistakes can happen.
“So, I’m just looking forward and hoping of course that I have a car to be in a championship fight because then that’s I think where I am even better because then it’s a lot nicer and a lot easier to deal with.”
In Bahrain, it was a case of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton's brain beating Red Bull and Verstappen's brain, as strategy gave the seven-time world champion taking the victory.
But Max knows, over 23 races, there will be ups and downs.
“It’s very different [being in a title fight],” he explained. “Of course, that scenario, you don’t need to win every single battle or race, but that’s a natural thing.
“It doesn’t mean that [because] I didn’t win a junior series title, for example, that I don’t understand that. Because I think I won many titles in go-karting and it’s basically the same – you choose your battles.”
And as for this weekend's second race at Imola, Verstappen knows Red Bull will again have no room for error.
"We had a positive start to the season so hopefully we can keep that up but it won’t be easy and we need everything to work perfectly to beat our main competition," he said.
"Of course, there are always things we can do better, but that’s always easy to say after a race weekend. As a team, we always look to improve, but that’s a constant thing we are working on, we always want to be thinking ahead.
"Even if we had won the race in Bahrain, there are always areas to improve, especially when you are fighting a seven-time world championship-winning team, so that’s what we will continue to do in Imola.
"I’m up for the battle and it’s still a very long season."
