Verstappen not afraid of rain: I’ve installed antivirus software in my car!

Forecasters are predicting changeable weather for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. But the threat of rain has also revived concerns about a repeat of the technical problems seen at the start of the Malaysian race. Max Verstappen remains in good spirits, however, joking about the subject on Thursday.

Following the Malaysian fiasco, the FIA got to work on a software update designed to prevent similar problems. It even tested the update at the end of practice for the United States Grand Prix.

The drivers were instructed to activate wet-weather mode, which limits MGU-K output to 250 kW, and simulate driving on a wet track. In practice, that meant lifting off even through corners normally taken flat out, and slowing to just 35 km/h at Turn 15. It was at precisely this speed that the cars lost power.

Red Bull also suffered these problems in Malaysia, but managed to resolve them very quickly without restarting the entire power unit. It appears the power unit department in Milton Keynes had developed a more robust system on its side, capable of handling such shortcomings in the software supplied to teams by the FIA.

At Friday’s press conference, Max Verstappen was asked whether the weather forecast concerned him and whether he feared a repeat of the software problems. “I have installed antivirus in my car, so I’ll be fine!” he laughed.

Arvid Lindblad then expressed hope that the software bugs had been fixed and that Formula 1 would avoid them in Brazil. Verstappen picked up his microphone and reassured the Red Bull junior that he would be getting antivirus software too: “You’ll be on the same software, mate, so don’t worry!”

Verstappen has good reason to be cheerful. Interlagos is hugely popular among the drivers, and the Dutchman himself has plenty of fond memories of the circuit. The weather forecast actually plays further into his hands.

“It’s a fantastic track and good for racing,” he said, looking forward to the battles ahead. “And yeah, it has had some crazy races at times, also for me. Winning from starting up front or winning after coming from the back with rain races and stuff like that. It’s looking like there’s a chance of rain again, so that’s exciting.”

Verstappen surprised to reach second in the championship

Verstappen dealt a crushing blow to Norris’s title hopes here two years ago, winning from 17th on the grid. This year he is only fighting to finish runner-up, but the Sao Paulo Grand Prix could play a similar role.

“It’s a big surprise to be second, to be honest, in the championship, but we take it,” Verstappen continued. In the first half of the season, he might not even have dreamed of such a prospect. “I think we had a lot of difficulties as a team in the beginning. You know, the car was not where we wanted it to be. Probably also, we still had to learn quite a bit from the power unit, and I think we really learned a lot throughout the season. The car has naturally been a lot more competitive, of course, lately.”

Second place in the championship holds little value for the four-time champion, but he will try to secure it nonetheless. “From my side, it’s just you never really give up, or you just never really settle for P6 or P7. Even when I was in that position or fighting the midfield, I was still trying to do the best that I could get out of the situation – sometimes that is a P6, when the car is not able to perform better.”

“Once the car is in a better window, then you can fight further up front and eventually win races. Of course when you win, you take points out of everyone else, so that’s been the scene for the last races. I’m happy with that, but it also shows that the team never gave up and they were really pushing to find these improvements and understand the difficulties. I’m just happy that within a season, we had such a big turnaround,” he said, offering high praise for the team in Milton Keynes.