■ Australian Grand Prix, Sunday, 9am, BeIN Sports
Ahead of the opening Formula One race of the 2017 season, Max Verstappen looks at his title chances with the Red Bull Racing team and how his favourite way to switch off from the pressures of the sport is by playing FIFA 17 on the PlayStation.
Solid start
The Red Bull Racing driver made a solid start to the new Formula One season on Friday as he was sixth quickest in practice for Sunday’s race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix. The Dutchman’s best time of 1 min, 25.013 secs was 1.3 seconds off the pace of triple world champion Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes-GP.
Play everything down
Of his chances of becoming F1’s youngest world champion this season, Verstappen, 19, said: “If I have the car I can challenge for the title. But will it be this year? I don’t know yet. I try to play everything down and we will see what happens during the season. I don’t think we are the strongest team, but I am pretty confident we can develop the car.
Pretty open
Of his relationship with Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, he added: “We are pretty open and we understand each other. We try to win on track, but off track Daniel is very open, and happy and that is always nice.”
FIFA 17
As to how he escapes the pressure of F1, Verstappen reveals playing FIFA 17 on the PlayStation achieves that. “I like to play the ultimate team option so you can buy players and select your own side. They update the carts every week with new players so you try to buy them and you get coins for winning matches. I don’t play the racing games. I play people all over the world at FIFA and they would not know it is me because my name is completely different online.”
Schedule
Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix takes place in Melbourne on Saturday at 10am UAE time, with the 58-lap race around the 5.5km Albert Park track beginning at 9am on Sunday.
* Press Association
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Read more
■ Predictions: Sebastian Vettel to win world title
■ Podcast: Expect big things from Ferrari, Verstappen
■ Schedule: Australian GP kicks off 2017 season
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