Berlin, Max Verstappen is not obsessed with winning the Formula One world championship as he said losing a tense title duel with Lewis Hamilton won’t be the end of the world for him.

“You cannot force things. You just have to work well and work hard together, and then we will find out at the end of the season where that will put us, is that first, is that second? We don’t know,” he said on Thursday.

Heading into Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix Red Bull’s Verstappen trails the seven-time world champion Hamilton of Mercedes by two points with seven races left in the season, said dpa international.

“I always do my best and I know that the team is also doing the best they can. And if that’s going to be, at the end of the year, first, of course that’s an amazing achievement and that’s what we work for,” the Dutchman said.

“But even if we would finish second, I think we would still have a great season and at the end of the day it’s not really going to change my life. I enjoy what I’m doing and that’s also very important. For me there is not much to worry about, really.

“We are very relaxed, but also very focused, and of course we want to win – the whole team wants to win – so that mentality is there.”

Hamilton won the last race in Russia in dramatic fashion with rain late in the Sochi GP while Verstappen roared to second, from having to start from the back of the grid, to considerably limit the damage.

Verstappen got the grid penalty for going over the allowed three power units per season, and there is speculation Hamilton could face the same situation as early as in Istanbul.

Hamilton, who clinched a record-equalling seventh world title last year in Istanbul, also said his off-track activities and interests are helping him in the intense duel with Verstappen.

Source: Bahrain News Agency