Max Verstappen admits Red Bull have 'benefitted' as he opens up on Ferrari errors

Max Verstappen has admitted Red Bull has “benefitted” from Ferrari's strategic mistakes and mechanical failures this season as he closes in on his second world title. The Ferrari looked the faster car earlier on this season with Charles Leclerc securing six pole positions from the first eight races.

However, the Prancing Horse failed to capitalise on winning positions in Spain and Azerbaijan with the team suffering mechanical failures. Leclerc was then plagued with a range of strategy mistakes from the team in Monaco, Britain and Hungary which cost the Monegasque vital points.

Taking away Leclerc’s own errors at the Emilia Romagna and French Grands Prix and he could be right in the mix. Instead, he lies a massive 98-point behind Verstappen, meaning the Dutchman could almost retire from four races and still be ahead in the standings.

However, Verstappen warned he was not getting too carried away just yet and stressed there were still plenty of chances for fate to reverse itself. The Dutchman made the comments when asked if he was surprised Ferrari had not sustained their championship challenge throughout the course of the season.

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Speaking in the press conference, he said: ‘I mean, for sure, you know, some races definitely went a bit better for them than others. But I mean, I think we all learn from our mistakes, right? I think that's the most important.

“And, yes, some races we have benefited from little errors or retirements, even though of course, we had our own retirements as well. Yeah, there's still a lot of races to go where things can go wrong also for us, so we have to be very focused on not making mistakes. And that's what we'll try to do to the end of the year.”

Ahead of the summer break, Christian Horner was also hesitant to get carried away despite the team’s “healthy” advantage.

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He explained: “Ferrari are quick and Mercedes are coming back into the game. There's still a long, long way to go in this championship, plus a Sprint race, so we don't take anything for granted.

"There's still a lot of racing to do and at very different venues." However, Red Bull will be nervous heading into Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix after a difficult day in practice yesterday.

Verstappen stopped on track in FP1 with a gearbox issue and was over six-tenths slower than the Ferraris in the afternoon.