Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen says he didn’t risk a move straightaway on Racing Point’s Sergio Perez after he passed him on Lap 1 of F1 Azerbaijan GP.
Perez made a solid start to take on Verstappen and get track position in F1 Azerbaijan GP on Lap 1 but the Dutchman didn’t panic and surprisingly took his time to re-pass the Mexican on Lap 6, which he states was because he didn’t want to take a risk.
Although he admitted to have lost some time behind Perez but he knew he will get by him sooner than later. It then was a lonely race for most part until the end stages when he ran toe-to-toe with the Mercedes drivers and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Even though he lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but he re-gained the position after the Monegasque went deep in the race which cost him the place. Verstappen was looking to take on Vettel in the end stages but for the VSC period which hampered his chances.
Ironically, it was his Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, who caused it due to a driveshaft failure while running a solid sixth from the pitlane. The Dutchman lost the temperature he built up on the tyres, which was enough to disrupt his post-VSC challenge.
He also took the end laps cautiously after Gasly’s failure. Overall, he was happy with the pace and to be on par with Mercedes and Ferrari as he continues to chip away solid points for himself and most importantly for his team.
“In general we had a good race,” said Verstappen. “I always had the Mercedes and Ferrari in sight and I was just trying to close the gap. At the start I was blocked and couldn’t really brake deep into the corner, which allowed Perez to get past me.
“Of course, that lost me a bit of ground but you don’t want to risk everything on Lap 1. Once I got back past, we went a little bit longer than the others on the soft tyre and I had a good feeling with the car.
“We had good pace, especially on the medium tyre in the second stint where I closed the gap [to Vettel] by seven or eight seconds. With the Virtual Safety Car, I think I lost too much tyre temperature and I couldn’t get it back as quickly as the others.
“Around here, tyre temperature is key and you end up sliding a lot more with low temperatures, so it wasn’t worth risking the position in the final laps. It was clear that we were fast over the second stint.
“We tried to go a bit longer on the first stint, so we might have lost a bit of time there, but as I said earlier, in general we had a good race. [Although] we have to see why we lost so much tyre temperature compared to the others.”
Team principal Christian Horner was happy with the pace of car, especially looking at Gasly and Leclerc’s time on the first stint, where both ran the mediums. Honda introduced the Spec 2 engine for the race but it carried little performance and more reliability.
He also hailed Gasly’s performance to be sixth from the pitlane, which is the most he could have done. The Frenchman, himself, felt much better in the grand prix with a slight change in his approach, as he continues to adapt to the Red Bull car.
Here’s how the Azerbaijan GP panned out
Daniel Ricciardo says it was ‘urgency and panic’ in Baku incident
Here’s Charles Leclerc on not pushing in second/third stint
Robert Kubica reveals he nearly crashed in Turn 2 at Azerbaijan GP start
Lewis Hamilton was cautious at start as he played a team game
Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll on Racing Point’s double points haul