Max Verstappen achieved a brilliant second place at the Spanish Grand Prix, but acknowledged that his race nearly ended early due to an incident with Lewis Hamilton. In his first race on the Madrid track, the Dutchman spoke about the complicated circumstances that surrounded the early moments of the competition.
After the race, Verstappen commented that his performance was a success, although he admits he did not have the pace to fight for victory. ‘We maximized the result, but the truth is that I did not have the speed of Kimi [Antonelli] or Lando [Norris],’ declared the Red Bull Racing driver.
One of the key moments was the decision to let Hamilton pass after an incident between the two drivers. Verstappen was forced to give up the position by instruction from his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, even though that meant giving up two places. The driver expressed his frustration over the radio but acknowledged that he could do nothing but follow the team’s instructions.
‘If I hadn’t done it, I would have received a penalty,’ Verstappen stated. Despite this discontent, he defended that his behavior was correct, as he believed Hamilton had lost control of the vehicle. ‘I would have had damage to my car if I had stayed on the track and then the victory would have been impossible for me,’ he asserted.
Regarding his performance, Verstappen emphasized that the podium was the best he could achieve, given the situation. ‘At the end of the day, we could have been lucky to benefit from the misfortune of others, but we must also acknowledge that we have overperformed in some situations. Our mission is to improve our package for future races to truly compete for the victory,’ he concluded.
With this second place, Verstappen is now looking to continue fighting to climb the championship standings, while Red Bull faces the challenge of increasing the competitiveness of their vehicle for the rest of the season.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_5dd0063c400b9dac52412afa45da66bb5a2ab8f2