SPIELBERG, Austria -- Max Verstappen says his seat at Red Bull is not under threat from former teammate Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard was signed up for another year at Toro Rosso.
Verstappen replaced Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull after four races this year, resulting in Kvyat being demoted to Toro Rosso alongside Sainz. Verstappen and current teammate Daniel Ricciardo are contracted until the end of 2018, but Red Bull has the ability to shuffle its drivers between its two teams as it sees fit.
Verstappen outscored Sainz in their first year as teammates in 2015 and is confident Red Bull will not consider another swap in the years to come.
"No I don't feel the pressure from Carlos to be honest," he said. "I think I've shown at Toro Rosso how to beat him in the races and in qualifying. In general, I never really feel pressure so it's OK for me.
"But at the end, you always try to do the best possible job and I think that's always the approach in whatever team you are. And as long as you do a very good job, you have more opportunities than only one team."
But Verstappen expects Sainz to try his hardest to prove to the team that he would do a better job.
"You always try to fight for yourself, isn't it? You try to do the best possible job. They chose me and I'm of course very happy with that."