“I’m always good on the tyres,” Max Verstappen reveals the reason behind him being head and shoulders above Sergio Perez
Follow Us
Max Verstappen
Yesterday, Max Verstappen had a drive for the ages. The car, was, of course, the quickest by a country mile, but Verstappen even impressed regardless of that fact. The Dutchman was far, far quicker than his teammate, Sergio Perez over the course of the race, and the overtaking for him looked almost too easy.
The Dutchman started 14th but had already climbed to P8 by lap 2. Charles Leclerc, who started just behind, had done something similar, but then had problems with a tear-off (perhaps Verstappen’s own tear-off) getting stuck in his brakes and had to pit, dropping down to P17. After the safety car ended, Verstappen wasted no time in getting back to business and was in the lead by lap 12.
He pit on lap 15 but took the lead again on lap 18, which he kept throughout the race. To call this a dominant performance would be an understatement. Even if the Red Bull was the fastest car – Max Verstappen won by a gap of almost 18 seconds to his teammate, second-placed Sergio Perez. Verstappen even seemed to have Perez’s number in what is considered to be his best quality – tyre management.
Max Verstappen: ‘We learned from Austria’
Sergio Perez is always lauded for his tyre management. But like Carlos Sainz, he also suffered from high degradation and tyre management issues in the race. Max Verstappen certainly did not seem to be. The Dutchman went longer on the first stint with soft than his teammate Perez did on the mediums, and Verstappen went 4 laps longer than Sainz as well, who was on the same soft tyres.
When asked about this in a press conference with the other two podium sitters, Verstappen said: “It’s not only today, I think I’m always good on tyres. Maybe people don’t look at it. But yeah, just understanding, experience, trying to set up the car in the best way possible. And sometimes the car reacts better to it and sometimes not.”
Austria was not an amazing weekend race pace-wise for Red Bull, who suffered from much higher tyre degradation than Ferrari: “I think when you look at, for example, Austria, we weren’t that great, but I think we learned from that. And we tried to apply that. Yeah, if the car sometimes is that good, everything becomes easier.”
This weekend, Max Verstappen heads to his home race, where he triumphed last year in dominant fashion. Safe to say, he’ll be targeting the win again. After that is Monza, Ferrari’s own home race, but Red Bull may just be in for a 1-2 finish there, as the track looks to suit them better.
Stay Updated!
Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)