Verstappen: “I had to fight more than last year”
For the tenth time this season, Max Verstappen prevailed. But it wasn't his easiest victory. He even believes it was more complicated than last year.
Seeing Max Verstappen with his arms in the air at the end of a race has become a regular occurrence. However, the reigning world champion had to work hard throughout the race as he was put under pressure by Mercedes’ strategy, as he declared at the foot of the podium: “It wasn’t a straightforward race. We had to push throughout.”
The key elements obviously have the two race interruptions, caused by Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas: « It wasn’t easy with the virtual safety car and the safety car but we made all the right decisions. In the end, we had the right pace. »
He could also thank George Russell’s decision to prioritize his own strategy, which exposed Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen’s attack during the final restart: « Before the safety car, it was okay with the hard tires even if we were slow. Then we switched to the soft tires, which put us in third place. Afterwards, George stopped and we were able to have a good restart. Our top speed really helped us. »
Indeed, the Dutch driver fully took advantage of the banking in the last turn to position himself in the slipstream of the Mercedes #44. All that was left was to enjoy the final laps, before celebrating his second home victory: « It’s always special to win at home but I had to work even harder. »
This fourth consecutive victory also allows him to further extend his lead in the championship, which now reaches 109 points over Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.
