F1 Bahrain GP: Max Verstappen reveals the key to his first win at Sakhir

The 25-year-old appreciated the work done by the team in providing the dominant RB-19.

F1 Bahrain GP: Max Verstappen reveals the key to his first win at Sakhir

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has kicked off the 2023 F1 season in the best way possible. The 25-year-old dominated the race from Turn 1 and won the Grand Prix by a big margin. The Dutchman brought home the RB-19 in first place with teammate Sergio Perez in P2, giving Red Bull its first 1-2 of the season. The first win for Verstappen at the Bahrain International Circuit

After the race, Nico Rosberg took the post-race interviews. The 2016 world champion asked Max Verstappen about the giant lead at the start. The 25-year-old acknowledged the tire performance at the start as the reason for this lead. As the Dutchman simply managed the race after that. He replied, “Yes, it was a very very good first stint where I basically made my gap. And from there onwards it was all about looking after the tires.”

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Max Verstappen started the Austrian team’s goal of keeping its strategic options open in the case of a late safety car. The 25-year-old explained, “Because you never really know what’s gonna happen later on in the race.” This train of thought at Red Bull allowed the Dutchman to end his win drought at the Bahrain GP. He continued, “So we just wanted to make sure we had the right tires in good condition as well so yeah we’re really happy to finally also win here in Bahrain.”

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Max Verstappen has set his sights on winning the Saudi Arabian GP

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Verstappen showcased sheer domination throughout the race

Nico Rosberg further questioned the Dutchman over the set-up tweaks for the RB-19. Max Verstappen mentioned that the team faced no major issues in this regard. Instead, Red Bull tried to alter the minute details to get an even better-suited car for the race. The 25-year-old said, “Nothing nothing big. Just little things you always want to fine-tune. So I think they’re quite easy to get on top of.”

The Dutchman now looks forward to the second round of the F1 season in Saudi Arabia. The two-time world champion believes the Adrian Newey-designed RB-19 can work well on most tracks on the calendar. He said, “I think we have a good race package. Of course, it will depend a bit from race to race. But we can definitely fight with this.” Verstappen even thanked the team for its continuous efforts. He said, “big thank you to the team… They’ve given such a quick race car again.”

Thus, Max Verstappen is delighted to have won the season opener in Bahrain. The two-time world champion was forced to retire from the race last season. As such, this dominant performance acts as the perfect redemption story for the 25-year-old. The Dutchman has his eyes set on conquering the F1 world championship for a third time this season.

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