Max Verstappen: It’s hard to say who has the best car

Red Bull Racing dominated Imola and over the weekend drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez totaled 58 points, narrowing the gap with Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship to 11 points. At a press conference after the finish, Max was asked if he thought his car was currently the fastest in Formula 1.

“These kinds of questions are always difficult to answer,” said Max Verstappen. – The situation is different on different routes. If you remember what happened in Melbourne, our car certainly wasn’t the best.

In the end, it’s all about the details. If you are happy with the balance then the car can be considered the fastest, but if there are problems with the balance then the car just won’t work. A different speed can depend on how carefully you have to work with tires.

The big question is what the balance of power in Miami will be. Perhaps one of the teams can “shoot” while others roll back. Of course I hope that we will perform well, but we don’t know that right now.

The team brought new items to Imola, but I don’t know if they gave us any advantage as the weekend was so chaotic due to the changeable weather. It’s hard to judge, but we definitely did better than in Australia, so I’m happy with how the team spent the weekend.

We’ve managed to get everything right, and sometimes it’s more important than just bringing new items to the track. I think in the coming races we can better estimate the benefit of these updates.

In the sprint the Ferraris were very fast and in the first laps Charles just drove away from me. Ferrari’s tires gritted more than ours, but in Melbourne the situation was reversed. Ferrari has a very fast car and in Miami the balance of power can change.

In Sunday’s race, Max was in the lead from start to finish. When asked if there were situations during the course where he should be nervous, the Red Bull Racing driver replied: “If I had to overtake laps. Some stayed on a dry trail and I had to get around them on a wet trail. Not pleasant, but what is, is. There’s nothing to do but deal with it, but at such moments it was possible to be off the track.

Max also commented on Charles Leclerc’s mistake, which deprived the Ferrari driver of a podium finish: “It was easy to make a mistake in that situation because he attacked with all his might and tried to overtake Sergio. Of course it’s a shame to lose positions like that, but I think Charles understands that very well himself, and he doesn’t need to hear it from others.

There are still a lot of races before the end of the season, so he will still have chances to earn a lot of points. There wasn’t much fun about what happened, but nothing can change that now. I mean, Charles didn’t do it on purpose.”