Verstappen "won't stop fighting" despite recent championship setbacks

Max Verstappen has said neither he nor Red Bull will "stop fighting" despite the Dutchman suffering back-to-back retirements at Monza and Mugello.

Verstappen left the Belgian Grand Prix at the start of the most recent triple-header second in the drivers' standings, trailing championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 47 points.

Despite the opportunities afforded in the two chaotic races on Italian soil that then followed, Verstappen was unable to take advantage; retiring at Monza with a power unit failure and becoming embroiled in a race-ending lap one incident at Mugello.

That has resulted in Verstappen dropping to third in the standings and falling 80 points adrift of Hamilton ahead of this weekend's Russian Grand Prix.

But a defiant Verstappen said: "We won’t stop fighting for wins and podiums."

Of his Mugello experience, he added: "It is of course not nice leaving a race weekend in that way, especially when I think we had a good chance of more than just a podium but we have to put that behind us.

"We have of course discussed the issues as a team and everybody is working in the same direction and trying to fight for every possibility in every single race that we can.

"I think we made some positive steps with the car at Mugello and it was, of course, good to see Alex on the podium for the first time."

Verstappen is expecting another potentially tricky weekend at the Sochi Autodrom, a circuit that may not play to the strengths of the RB16.

"It’s not going to be easy in Sochi, and it has not been a favourite for us with a lot of long straights and the competition behind will be close," assessed Verstappen.

"The track is pretty unique as most of the corners are 90 degrees, which we don’t usually experience.

"So we need to make sure we get the set-up just right, especially for certain slow corners to maximise the exit before the straights.

"It’s also not the easiest place to overtake, but let’s hope this weekend I won’t need to do too much overtaking and that we can get a good result."

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