Mick Schumacher says he couldn’t disappear in F1 US GP when Max Verstappen caught him towards the end, as Christian Horner adds on nervous moments.
It was getting nervous for all towards the end of the F1 US GP and Haas’ Schumacher found himself in front of Red Bull’s Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. He was shown the blue flags but it wasn’t easy for him to get away from the scene.
He eventually did so in the final corner, when both Verstappen and Hamilton got through on the final lap. While in a way it benefited the Dutchman with the DRS, the Brit missed out as he was not under a second in the detection zone, but it was not before nervous moments.
Red Bull F1 chief Horner was concerned at that moment and not just Schumacher, he was also a bit worried when Verstappen was stuck behind Tsunoda. “It’s always difficult because you don’t know, it’s very difficult to factor into your strategy the backmarkers, so we lost a lot of time behind Yuki Tsunoda and then Mick Schumacher was quite costly on the last couple of laps,” he said to written media.
“I thought that was going to cost us the victory because he held up Max through the whole last sector but thankfully we did pick up the DRS on the start finish straight which at least gave Max a little bit of breathing room into to Turn 1. But it certainly added to the stress on the pitwall,” summed up Horner.
Verstappen too acknowledged the presence of Schumacher in the last few laps which got him slightly unsettling. “With two laps I had the Haas in front of me and going into the last sector he was in front and especially with worn tyres it’s not easy to follow,” he said. “Of course luckily then he stayed in front so he gave me that DRS, so whatever I lost I think it stabilized because of that DRS.
“The last lap was all about trying to have a good first sector and beginning of the second sector but it wasn’t easy because the tyres were really finished. But it’s incredible to win here,” summed up Verstappen, who eventually had it under control ahead of Hamilton, who caught him well in those laps.
Schumacher, meanwhile, did not have much to add other than noting that he couldn’t vanish just like that. He added that it eventually helped Verstappen more than it harmed with just the final lap remaining. “The fact is I can’t just disappear,” he said to TV media.
“I’m on the track too and I have my own race. I was trying to be the least complicated, let’s say, the least annoying for Max, and I think the fact he got DRS through me kind of equalled that out a bit. Anybody in that situation couldn’t do anything else. It’s racing.”
Here’s Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and team bosses on strategy
Here’s Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on Turn 1