'No reason to suddenly be different' for Max Verstappen as 2022 F1 challenge awaits

• Max Verstappen and Red Bull confirmed their readiness for the 2022 Formula 1 season.

• Verstappen says that his approach will be unchanged, despite starting the year as champion.

• Red Bull also announced a new partnership with technology firm Oracle.

• For more motoring stories, visit Wheels24

Max Verstappen insists the pressure is off as he prepares to open his Formula 1 championship defence.

On Wednesday, 9 February, Red Bull became F1's first major player to take the wraps off their new machine - the foremost of the sport's new technical era - at their Milton Keynes base.

Verstappen clinched last season's championship in deeply controversial circumstances after beating Lewis Hamilton in a one-lap shootout at the concluding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The fallout from the 12 December race continues with FIA race director Michael Masi's position under intense scrutiny amid an ongoing FIA inquiry into a result Hamilton claimed was "manipulated".

Hamilton was back at Mercedes' Brackley factory this week - all but ending suggestions he will quit the sport - with the Silver Arrows to unveil their car for the forthcoming campaign at Silverstone a week on Friday.

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No reason to be different

For Verstappen, the 24-year-old Dutchman will begin an F1 season as the defending champion for the first time in his career.

But when asked if he feels a greater weight of expectation, Verstappen replied: "No, I just do what I do all the time, and there is no reason to suddenly be different. With the new regulations, you have to get used to the car, and that is going to be the biggest adaptation, but the rest is pretty