It was a new Max Verstappen – but also a Red Bull – seen at the weekend in Miami. The Dutchman was not the usual stone crusher that we have been able to admire for a few years now. Indeed, in some ways, he was clearly beaten after so many months by an exceptional Lando Norris and a McLaren.
Yesterday Verstappen never appeared capable of troubling Norris’s car, possessing a more competitive race pace than that of the three-time world champion, so much so that he trailed him by 8 seconds at the end of a race in which Max had to deal with several problems .
The RB20 0number 1 was never perfect throughout the weekend. He lacked the correct balance, so much so that Max struggled in the race both with the Medium compounds – tires with which he started the race – and, above all, with the Hard ones. Christian Horner explained it in one of the rare times in which he found himself forced to explain what didn’t work.
“We were struggling with the balance all weekend. Obviously Max hit the bollard around lap 20 and that caused a lot of damage to the underside of the car, so we’ll have to see exactly what effect that had.”
“At that point, however, he had sufficient pace, he was getting rid of Oscar and Lando before he suffered that damage. Obviously, afterwards we made the pit stops and the safety car came out at the best moment for Lando, allowing him to make a free stop, but it wasn’t good for us, who had tires that were six laps older.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“With the damage sustained, second place was still a decent result. We must congratulate Lando on his first win. It’s always a big moment for any grand prix driver to win his first race, so congratulations to him and McLaren “.
“We still managed to get the most points in the drivers’ standings with yesterday’s sprint race and the most points in the constructors’ standings. A very strong weekend for the team.”
Horner then went a little more in-depth about the bottom problem that Max had. The impact against the post after cutting the chicane produced damage to the underbody just as it passed over the remains of the uprooted pylon.
“It’s a reasonable amount of the area around the back left of the bottom. It’s missing a reasonable amount and you can also see it flexing terribly, so it certainly didn’t help.”
“Max lost a lot in Turn 1, he lost two and a half tenths in Turn 1 every lap. I think it was because of the damage, when you see the pictures of what was missing, it wasn’t designed that way,” he concluded the team principal of Red Bull.
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