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- Max Verstappen says it would not change his life if he did not win the F1 championship this year.
- The Red Bull driver is fighting with Lewis Hamilton in the closest title race for years.
- "Even if we would finish second, I think we still would have a great season," he said.
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One of the two men contending for the 2021 Formula One world championship has said it would not change his life if he did not win the title.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen is locked in the tightest title race in years against Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, with the Dutchman being just two points behind ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix.
Hamilton is competing for a record-breaking eighth world title while Verstappen is fighting for his first. Should the Dutchman clinch the title, he would also become the first non-Mercedes driver to win it since Sebastian Vettel in 2013.
"We are very relaxed but also very focused and of course we want to win," said Verstappen on Thursday. "There's nothing you can force or you have to stress about because we always want to do the best we can anyway.
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"If that's going to be, at the end of the year, first, that's of course an amazing achievement and that's what we work for, right?
"But even if we would finish second, I think we still would 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 I think that's also very important. For me there is not much to worry about, really."
Verstappen was praised by double world champion Fernando Alonso who said the 24-year-old was handling the pressure much better than others.
"It seems that for him it is not a big deal every weekend and he takes it race by race. I think that's the right approach for these remaining races," Alonso said.