Verstappen: I foresee that it will be more difficult for us in Singapore

Max Verstappen set a Formula 1 record for the number of wins in a row in Monza and he is proud of this achievement. But according to him, it will be more difficult to win the race in Singapore and take the eleventh victory.

Q: Max, you have already achieved the tenth win in a row, which was not possible before for any driver in Formula 1 history. What does this record mean to you?
Max Verstappen: I think this is something I obviously didn’t expect, at the beginning of the season it was impossible to imagine. In general, I am willing to admit that I am very proud. But I’m also really happy with how I ran the race.

We were able to run a good pace again and were able to control tire wear. At the start of the race I had an interesting, albeit short, battle with Carlos Sainz, trying to get ahead of him in the first corner, but there was not enough speed. So we had to wait for him to make a little mistake, lock up the wheels or something else happened.

At one point he let the brakes lock up a bit, allowing me to accelerate well out of turn 2, and when I got into the lead I just had to concentrate on my own pace. At the same time, the handling of the car left a very pleasant impression.

Q: I would still like to return to your record: some win races, others win championships, but no one has yet succeeded at what you did…
Max Verstappen: That’s for sure! Frankly, I am very proud of the effort of our entire team throughout the year. I mean, we’ve won every race this season and we definitely like it because it doesn’t happen that often.

Q: Did Sebastian Vettel accidentally message you before the start of the race or after it ended?
Max Verstappen: I don’t have my phone with me so I’ll check later.

Q: Now back to the race, we’ve seen a lot of good examples of battle on the track. And this fight was more interesting than on many other songs – what do you think, what is the reason for this?
Max Verstappen: I think overall Monza is still difficult to overtake. We ended up behind the Ferrari, although we were faster, so we had to find an opportunity to overtake. So I don’t even know. I don’t think it has anything to do with the track.

Moreover, here in qualifying it is sometimes possible to climb one or two positions higher, and in the race you lose them again. This, of course, creates additional conditions for overtaking, at least here you can fight for positions. Although I don’t think this is always related to the characteristics of the track.

Question You said there were minor issues at the end of the race that forced us to slow down. Can you tell me more?
Max Verstappen: I have not yet discussed this with the team or asked what the problem is. They just told me what to do, and that’s how I behaved until the finish. Luckily we had a big lead, so at the end of the race I was riding at an easy pace.

Q: Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, what are the expectations associated with that?
Max Verstappen: I foresee that it will be more difficult for us there. But let’s see. Of course we will do our best to perform well and win again. Let’s just say the weekend in Singapore won’t be the easiest for us.

Q: It seems that the DRS system is not as effective on tracks that require aerodynamic settings for low downforce. As a result, we saw more overtaking in the braking zones than just on the straights. Did you enjoy it more? Perhaps in the future it is worth trying to somehow reduce the effect of DRS?
Max Verstappen: No, I think we are still struggling to overtake on most tracks. I mean, at the beginning of the year a lot of people were complaining about it. Of course, our team has a fast car, and this is a kind of luxury, so we were able to overtake even in Miami, where everyone complained about overtaking problems.

I think cars are becoming more efficient and developing more and more downforce. That’s why it’s kind of hard to stay right behind them because we’re going faster and faster on the straights. And in Monza, of course, the effect of DRS is greater, because the wings of the machines are designed for minimum pressure.

But in my opinion it all depends on the specific route. Here, for example, Carlos Sainz had the car in the middle of the track before the first corner, and I could hardly do anything. If I tried to move slightly to the right, it would also move in the same direction and there would be no room for manoeuvre. So in my opinion overtaking in the braking zones was not so easy today.

Q: Some teams have opted for the two-pit stop tactic, even though they believed before the race that they could easily cover the entire distance with a single stop in the pits. Was the degradation of the rubber more severe than you expected, or did it meet your expectations?
Max Verstappen: I think this is due to the temperatures being slightly higher than the previous days, which affected the intensity of the degradation. This was also the case with my car, although it is difficult to compare with Friday, because I drove with different settings.

That’s why I had to observe this process during the race, although obviously the tires wore out more intensively in the first 15 laps, when I was behind Carlos. But when I ended up on a clear track, it immediately became clear that one pit stop would be enough for us. Although the level of relegation is probably a bit higher than on Friday, we have to take into account that we have not been able to do many laps in a row in practice due to red flags and the like.