50 career wins. A milestone achieved at just 26 years old, 7 years after the first, achieved at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, in his first race as a Red Bull driver. Max Verstappen also imposed his law at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, taking home the United States Grand Prix.
A true test of strength, that of the Dutchman. Topped off by a start from sixth place on the grid after seeing his best time in Friday’s qualifying canceled – rightly so – for having exceeded the track limits in turn 19.
This inconvenience seems to have led Max to get the best out of himself and his RB19, recovering position after position until he made the decisive overtake against a tough Lando Norris, who then finished third behind Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen, during this race, experimented with racing in the middle of the pack. Brake overheating problems, more pronounced tire degradation. All factors which, for those who race behind other single-seaters, are the order of the day. For him, in a year where he defeated the competition, it was one of the first opportunities of the season.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
“We started from sixth place and throughout the race I struggled with the brakes. On this track there are several braking points and I wasn’t able to find the same sensations as yesterday”, declared Max at the end of the race.
“This made my race much more difficult than usual. In the end, in fact, the gaps with the others were much smaller, and then even with the lapped drivers, when the tires run out, things get much more difficult” .
“As I said, I was struggling a lot with the brakes and I also had some problems with the tyres, so it wasn’t easy to manage them well”, confirmed the Dutchman once again to a question linked to the difficulties encountered during the day today.
A few words instead to celebrate victory number 50 of his career, which came at the age of 26. Max has always said that he doesn’t give too much importance to numbers, but in private it is known how much he actually cares about all statistics.
“Incredible to have won my 50th GP here. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved, obviously. I’ll keep trying to push to win again,” concluded Max.
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