Max Verstappen does not think more was possible at the Madrid ring than his eventual second place. The Dutchman encountered Lewis Hamilton on the track early in the race. His evasive maneuver to avoid a collision with the Brit and the subsequent order to give the position back ultimately cost Verstappen valuable time. Still, it could have ended worse, thinks the Red Bull driver: “If I had stayed on the track at the start, my race could have been over immediately.”
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Max Verstappen already indicated shortly after the race that he was satisfied with his second place at the Madrid ring. During the press conference, he emphasized this feeling. “It might have seemed a bit like we were in the fight for the victory, but that was only because Kimi (Antonelli, ed.) was held up by Charles (Leclerc, ed.),” he says about the race winner. “As soon as he had a clear track again, he drove away from me and I was busy fighting with Lando (Norris, ed.) behind me.”
In the very first corners, Verstappen also briefly encountered Lewis Hamilton on the circuit. To avoid a collision with his old rival, he therefore went off the track and rejoined the track ahead of Hamilton. Red Bull then asked Verstappen to give the position back. The Dutchman is therefore asked whether this moment – and the valuable time he lost because of it – affected his final result.
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‘Then my race would have been over immediately’
“No, because if I had stayed on the track at the start, I would have suffered damage,” he says soberly. “So then I wouldn’t have won either. If I hadn’t moved aside, I would have crashed into Lewis. My race could have been over immediately like that. Later in the race, we also simply benefited from the bad luck of others. We get the maximum out of the car every time and perform above expectations. That is what we can do now, but we are now focusing further on strengthening the foundation.”
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