Verstappen: “To be at the top, it was crucial not to make too many mistakes!”

A victory of a seasoned veteran. Yes, Max Verstappen is only 21 years old but his success at Hockenheim is worthy of an experienced driver. Aggressive when needed, calm at other times, the Red Bull driver never lost his composure. Yet, the Dutch idol could have been frustrated with a sluggish start, as if a handbrake had hindered his RB15.

But Verstappen is hardly impressionable. Dropping to fourth behind Hamilton, Bottas, and Räikkönen, he lined up alongside the Alfa Romeo driver as early as the 2nd lap with a clean and flawless overtaking maneuver. Two stops later, Verstappen hit the jackpot on the 32nd lap during the safety car intervention following Leclerc’s off-track excursion in the penultimate corner. The Red Bull leader took the lead, thanks to Hamilton’s own pit exit, who returned to the pits in the confusion, condemning Bottas, who was forced to wait to change to intermediate tires.

Verstappen took the lead and never let it go, despite numerous Safety Car interruptions. Five stops in total and a victory for the main protagonist, the seventh of his career, still without starting from pole position!

“It was crazy at the end!” he exclaimed into Martin Brundle’s microphone upon arrival. “It was really tricky: you had to make the right decisions and stay focused the whole time. We stopped too early to switch to dry tires. I did a nice 360 degrees!” Vestappen noted nonetheless, referring to that maneuver on his medium tires, the toughest moment of his race. Without cracking, then:

« To be on top, it was crucial not to make too many mistakes. It was really tricky conditions but it’s great to win. »

This success in Germany is therefore Max Verstappen’s second in 2019, one month after his win in Austria. In the overall drivers’ standings, his third place is consolidated, 21 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel.