De la Rosa: Red Bull could not have won without Max

After the Spanish Grand Prix, Lando Norris insisted that McLaren had the fastest car, and accordingly he had every chance to win, but he lost them in the opening seconds of the race, when he did not have the best start.

Pedro de la Rosa, former McLaren driver and current Aston Martin team ambassador, broadly agrees with this, but when analyzing last Sunday’s events he also highlighted the role of a number of other factors.

Pedro de la Rosa: “Of course the start is very important, because after the first lap Lando was third, having lost two positions. I think he also missed out on the win because he couldn’t overtake George Russell in the first few laps.

On the other hand, because Norris stayed behind him and took good care of his tires, it paid off at the end of the race: he was even faster than Max Verstappen, and he only just came up short. By the way, during the Grand Prix there was a very interesting moment when McLaren had to make a decision: they would try to fight for the win or they would be satisfied with 2nd place.

Should we do anything to prepare to fend off Lewis Hamilton, who was on fresh, soft tires at the back? Or is it better to forget about it, extend the second segment of the distance and also put Soft tires on the third, which will then be in a better condition compared to Max tires?

As a result, McLaren decided to make a pit stop to guarantee that they would stay ahead of Lewis, but this showed that the tires of Max and Lando were worn about the same amount in the final laps. However, after the race it is easy to talk about what should have happened, but in reality, when Max had to be aggressive, he played his cards and took the race to victory.

However, Red Bull could not have organized the race so skillfully if they did not have a driver like Max. The point is that he is a true master. And even though he did not start from pole position, it is in such situations that Verstappen races even stronger.”