Though he could wrap up the championship this weekend, Max Verstappen insists that he is not thinking about the title fight.
Heading into the penultimate round the Dutchman has an 8 point advantage over Lewis Hamilton, and could secure the crown before the series heads to Abu Dhabi next weekend.
However, while most are studying the various permutations that could see the youngster become the Netherlands first world champion, Verstappen insists that he is not thinking about the title.
"I've always been very neutral, not reading too many positive or negative things," he told reporters as th3e Jeddah weekend got underway. "In general, I try not to read too many things and be busy with other things I like.
"I come to the weekend and I focus on F1," he continued. "I do my things off-track, like preparing on the simulator, but then I'm also busy with other stuff so I think that helps a lot."
Despite the importance of the occasion, Verstappen insists that he is approaching this weekend's race as he would approach any other.
"Like I've done the whole season, there's no change in that," he said. "It's a new track so first of all we need to learn the track and see how to tackle it in FP1. For the rest, I just focus on the weekend to try and be as competitive as I can be.
"We're very motivated, and a track like this creates different and new opportunities for everyone, not only us," he admitted. "Hopefully, it's going to be an exciting weekend. I hope that we're going to be competitive, but it's a bit too early to say at the moment. On the simulator, it's a very, very fast track. I'm looking forward to seeing it in real life."
Asked if Hamilton's advantage, especially in terms of title fights, will be an advantage for the Briton, Verstappen says that in his opinion that doesn't make any difference.
"It's natural, of course, that when you are in this stage of your career you are better prepared than what you were in your first or second, when Lewis was fighting for his first title. I think it's a natural progression and it's very normal.
"I also feel much better prepared and more experienced than when I first came into Formula 1," he continued. "And no, I don't think that makes a big difference, because otherwise it would have shown already throughout the season."
Asked what, if anything, he has learned from his rival, Verstappen replied: "Fighting against Lewis in general has been good for the sport. It's a young guy against the established world champion, multiple world champion, and I think it's just very exciting.
"For me at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you're fighting against someone who's my age or a world champion, you know both of them are great drivers," he added. "Some might have had a bit more luck in general to be in a good car for a longer time but that doesn't take away that they're a great driver and yes, we always try to beat each other, of course. But I think so far it's been a really cool season.
"It's been a great year for us," he added. "We had a lot of good moments and it's more enjoyable. Last year was pretty boring for me, because basically all the time I was just in third, so there wasn't much happening for me.
"In a way it's not how you like to race but that sometimes happens when one team is of course very dominant, and that's why I think this year we turned it around well, we improved the car, and to be in this title fight to the end I think is very impressive from our side.
"Of course, I'll try to keep enjoying the last two races. It doesn't matter where we end up; we've had a really, really good season as a team."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Jeddah, here.
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