Max Verstappen claimed his fifth Formula 1 victory of the year at the United States Grand Prix – three of which have come after the summer break.
With two pole positions and two wins in Texas – including the sprint – Verstappen increased the pressure on both McLaren drivers in the championship fight. The leading Red Bull driver has now reduced his deficit to just 40 points, having made up no fewer than 64 points on Oscar Piastri over the last four race weekends. This is a turnaround he admitted he would never have believed possible.
Asked whether he would have believed anyone predicting this scenario after his home grand prix, Verstappen replied: “No. I would have told him he was an idiot!
“We found a good way with the car. It’s simple as that. Of course, we put some upgrades on the car, but we just understood our car a bit better as well – where we wanted it to perform better. Every weekend we try to achieve it. Some weekends it’s better than others, but in general it’s been way more straightforward the last few weekends compared to those races before.”
The Dutchman hailed a “perfect weekend” at Austin, although he emphasised that the performance gap to McLaren was much smaller than the results suggest.
“What was crucial was the first stint in which I could build a bit of a gap,” the Red Bull driver added. “After that, it basically stabilised pretty much after the pitstop until the end.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
“I think tyre management was very important, and it wasn’t very straightforward because there were some laps where you had a very different feeling or balance, grip – better or worse. It’s one of those days when you just need to try and make no mistakes.”
Verstappen managed just that, but admitted the fight between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc had helped. It gave the reigning world champion some breathing space and a good chance to look after his tyres. Verstappen knows it would have been a different story had Norris kept his position at the start.
“I think then it would have been a very close race,” the Dutchman commented. “Every time that Lando was in clean air, we were very evenly matched. Maybe at times he was a bit faster as well. So it wouldn’t have been the gap that it was at the end.”
Although Red Bull’s set-up changes had the desired effect and Verstappen’s race pace was significantly better than during the sprint, he still wasn’t completely satisfied afterwards: “It was a bit better today, even though it’s still not where I wanted it to be.”
Most importantly, Verstappen knows exactly what it takes to have a real shot at a fifth consecutive title, something only Michael Schumacher has achieved so far.
“We need to be perfect until the end to have a chance,” he insisted. “We caught up a lot, but at the same time, the gaps are very small. Every weekend you need to try and be perfect, and that’s what we’ll try to do until the end.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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