Red Bull maximised result despite late stop – Verstappen

2017 British Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen believes that Red Bull achieved the maximum result from the British Grand Prix despite a late unscheduled pit stop.

In the closing laps, Verstappen had been running fifth but Red Bull chose to bring him in for fresh tyres as a precaution immediately after Kimi Raikkonen suffered his left-front deflation.

“We decided to pit just to make sure that we wouldn’t get a puncture. But all in all I think we maximised the result,” explains Verstappen.

“As soon as I came in and saw Kimi pitting, I thought ‘we should’ve stayed out’, because then we could finish on the podium. But that’s always hindsight. At the end of the day, I understand that they want to be cautious with the tyres.”

Verstappen was involved in a hard battle with Sebastian Vettel over third place in the early phase of the race. The two made slight contact at Stowe corner and Verstappen held on to the position, ultimately losing the place in the first round of pit stops.

“We were a bit too slow, so I expected that Sebastian was coming,” says Verstappen. “We had some nice wheel-to-wheel action, absolutely.

“I kept pushing to try and keep up with them. I think some bits of the race, our pace was actually not too bad. But then I started to struggle with the left-front and I could also see the Ferraris start to struggle with that and eventually Sebastian got a puncture.”

Verstappen’s fourth place marked his first finish to a race since the Monaco Grand Prix after he retired from each of the previous three races.

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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12 comments on “Red Bull maximised result despite late stop – Verstappen”

  1. Ultimately hindsight is 20/20, going in damage control mode when other cars in front have failing tyres is not a bad idea. Good to see both the cars from this team finish the race.

  2. Well, Verstappen would have been in the gravel if not for the run-off at the exit of Stowe… illigally extending the track and living to fight another day. He then deserved a penalty for moving under braking a lap later imo.

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      16th July 2017, 17:26

      Why don’t you tell us where he should have driven in stead, cause there was a big red Ferrari forcing him to go there and joining him with 4 wheels outside the track.

      1. Hence the “Vettel wants to play bumper cars” radio statement. Vettel got it right back the next corner…

      2. VER should have given up the corner and backed out of it (like Vettel wisely did the next corner). If this were the old days VER would have been in the gravel, severely loosing time, potentially damaging his car or even getting stuck and retiring.

        Trying to get him back at the next corner and his subsequent radio remark blaming the other driver are typical childish VER behavior. It’s a pattern now.

        1. GtisBetter (@)
          16th July 2017, 21:33

          Vettel divebombed him and couldn’t make his corner. He took max with him. Max was already taking his corner and backed out. The next corner max did the same. It’s racing. And it’s not the old days, so who cares about that. In the old days they died a lot too.

    2. Move under break is allowed again this year if no real danger is caused and het went of track due to reasons described by Gdis. Actually vettel tyre slammed have him of track.

    3. You dont know the rules. Moving underbraking is not illegal.

      And leaving the track? He was forced by Vettel. And Vettel left the track a corner later, because he was than forced by Max.

      Thats racing, dude. Thats why I like it. I dont like Hulkenberg leaving everybody drive by. I like Vettel and Max showing off.

      1. Exactly. Why do people complain about these actions? This is racing. Or would they rather watch some processional DRS overtakes. And make no mistake: every single racer out there now knows that when they want to overtake VES they will not be gifted anything. In sports that means you are mentally 1-0 ahead even before the fight starts. Traits of a top notch athlete if you ask me.

  3. Red Bull didn’t pit Verstappen at the end of the race because Vettel was having tire issues and he might have to pit again. Then, when the Ferrari tires started to explode, they made a precautionary pitstop, which I think was clever. However, I don’t understand the timing of his first stop. Why did they pit him one lap after Vettel? He was going to lose that place anyway, but his lap times were still good and apart from Bottas there was no real pressure from behind, so why didn’t they leave him out for a few more laps? He turned out to have better pace and degradation on supersofts than on softs.

    1. I guess RB assumed that VET even on a harder (but fresher) compound would be quicker than Max on the supersoft. Makes sense since VET was all over his gearbox. RB currently unable to match the pace of the Ferrari

  4. A 19 year old against a former world champion in a much faster car. Good display of racing from the kid. Like to see him with a few more horsepower. Guess it will be eat my dust to the oldies.

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