Max Verstappen does not believe the extra pitstop at the end of the race was fraught with unnecessary risks, although he admits the team must have been nervous.
Q: You won the race at the Red Bull Ring for the fifth time, and you were also the best in both qualifying and won the sprint. Can you summarize such a successful weekend?
Max Verstappen: Yes, the weekend was really cool of course, I didn’t expect this. If the program includes a sprint, it usually always involves extra hassle and it is slightly more difficult to achieve high results. But I think our team did well.
In addition, everything went smoothly in the race, the tactics were well chosen, the pit stops were in order. It’s just that we have a very fast car, I’m quite comfortable behind the wheel. We could do whatever we wanted, exactly as we planned.
Q: Including driving the best lap at the end of the Grand Prix?
Max Verstappen: No, this was not planned!
Q: How risky was it?
Max Verstappen: There was no risk for me, but there was for the team – I think they were a bit nervous. I mean, our advantage allowed us to make another pit stop and I thought, “Let’s do it, I want to do the fastest lap.” You see, since there is such an opportunity … And we did it.
Q: It seems that the best round itself is more important to you than an extra bonus point?
Max Verstappen: Maybe.
Q: Someone may say, “Wow, he’s risking so much for one point, even though he’s already leading the championship”…
Max Verstappen: Yes, but I want to emphasize that this may only seem like a risky business from the outside. And if you are driving yourself, you do not feel at all that this is some kind of risk.
Q: During the race you had sharp fights, especially with Charles Leclerc. Did they give you pleasure?
Max Verstappen: Yes, of course they weren’t bad, but I had new tires and an overall advantage in pace. Of course, Charles knows how to fight on the track. Including we saw it here a year ago. But today we were clearly faster.
Q: Can you tell us more about overtaking Leclerc on lap 35? You showed impressive racing ability when you stayed behind his car in the DRS zone in the section before Turn 4…
Max Verstappen: We know where the DRS activation line is, plus my car held the track better and accelerated better. So I don’t even know … In general, everything worked out. Although it would be better if we had the same pace and the tires were in the same condition. I think in this respect the fight between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez was more interesting.
Q: Before the last pit stop you were 24 seconds ahead of the closest pursuer. Does it look like your advantage on this track has grown again compared to what it was in Canada?
Max Verstappen: Correct. But I liked everything that was written about it in the press! I want to say that in some weekends the opponents perform better, in others they don’t. Personally, I think the race in Montreal was not the best way for us, but we did a great job here, so it makes sense that the advantage was bigger.
Question: When the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) mode was introduced, both Ferrari cars went to the pits, but not you. What did you think when they went to the pit stop? After all, after your visit to the pits you stood behind it…
Max Verstappen: We acted according to our plan. I want to say that all such calculations are made in advance, taking into account the possible appearance of a safety car or the introduction of the VSC mode. In our case it made sense to stay on the track as the tires still had plenty of stock.
Before the introduction of VSC mode, I definitely increased my advantage in every round, so this whole situation didn’t bother me too much. I just got to the end of the section I had to pass on a set of Medium tyres. When I then switched to hard rubber, I immediately felt that it worked worse, but it also had to drive a segment to the end.
Of course I gradually overtook Charles during this stretch because of the advantage the newer tires offered, as well as the superior pace.
Q: Christian Horner has spoken a lot this weekend about the 2026 regulations. He fears that if the motorcycle regulations remain as they are now, it will probably be necessary to change the aerodynamics, maybe make them active, because it will increase the frontal drag of cars will have to be significantly reduced.
He believes this is the wrong way to develop Formula 1, what do you think?
Max Verstappen: I also discussed this with the team and also saw the results of the calculations on the simulator. From my point of view, the picture is terrible.
If you go into a straight line at full speed in Monza, you have to downshift about 400 or 500 meters before the end of it because it’s faster that way. I think it’s wrong. Of course Monza is apparently one of the worst examples in that sense.
From my point of view, the problem is this: it seems that everything can change in a competition between manufacturers of internal combustion engines. A clear advantage will be given to those who have a more powerful engine. But I don’t think they have set themselves such a goal in Formula 1, because this leads to another arms race.
The cost of increasing power by a few horsepower through certain solutions will be very high. In my opinion it should be the exact opposite. In addition, the air resistance of cars will become much less and it will be even more difficult to overtake on straight lines.
In addition, if active aerodynamic systems are used, you cannot control their work, they will do everything for you. In my opinion, the feeling behind the wheel of such cars will be very strange, because I prefer to control everything myself.
Of course, if you’re chasing someone, you may want to increase the downforce at the front of the car or at the rear. And if the system is going to do it for you, then this is the wrong way to develop.
This will also lead to an increase in the weight of the machines. Therefore, everything should be considered very seriously, because 2026 is just around the corner. But so far, judging by all the calculations, according to the data I’ve seen, the picture looks very unimportant. And all this does not cause much enthusiasm.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
