Max Verstappen engages in a mini-battle with Lando Norris, who strategically withdrew after attacking the Dutchman at the F1 Grand Prix in Brazil.
There was a bit of a close race between Red Bull’s Verstappen and McLaren’s Norris in the F1 GP sprint in Brazil, but the show in the main race was worth it. At one point it looked like it would be a battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but that wasn’t the case.
After the red flag and Leclerc’s fall, it was a battle between Verstappen and Aston Martin, but Norris got off to a perfect start and overtook them to finish second. Early on, the Brit charged the Dutchman for several laps and even tried to make a move at Turn 4.
However, Norris then overtook Verstappen and decided to strategically retreat as there was little chance of him maintaining that position until the end. However, the British racer continued to set good lap times throughout the race, making it a very enjoyable race for both.
“I think it was good. I mean, it might look easy from the outside, but I think Lando matched my lap times for most of the stint,” Verstappen said. “Of course, it was about the last five to 10 laps where the tire wear seemed better. But yeah, you definitely have to be pretty focused at the start of each stint and you can’t afford to make mistakes. It was.
“And given the high temperatures, it’s not at all easy to drive here. Just relaxing and letting the car take the corner doesn’t mean there are no consequences. You really had to be there. At this moment, he suddenly concluded a lot. I didn’t expect him to start in Turn 1, but yeah, he used a little bit of battery. I had to fulfill it.
“And in the first round, the first round and the fourth round, I had to defend. And of course I had to try to keep that distance. But this stint of I think what was really important at that stage was to really pay attention to the tires, to make sure we got a good lap before the pit stop.Of course, I don’t like to fight, but winning two races a year, I’ve spent so many years in F1 finishing fifth the rest of the way, so I’m just enjoying the moment, accepting it and enjoying it.’Lead a little bit further and be in the lead,’ Verstappen summed up.
For Norris’ part, he wanted to try it once, and he did, but he knew it was just an attempt to see if he could overtake Verstappen. “I mean, I tried it,” he said. “I wasn’t… I had too many problems in Turn 10 and Turn 12. Red Bull was very competitive here and we had problems and we had problems all weekend. .
“Aside from the fact that I had new tires, and of course on this restart, I used new tires and Max didn’t.” So, if I had the chance, then I knew it would come. So I used up all my battery. Of course he had DRS, but he noticed it right away.
“I had a good line in Turns 1 and 2, and Max had a lot of grip too. Maybe later in the stint, his line would have been better in Turns 1 and 2. It would have hurt him even more and given him a bigger penalty. But the tires were still fresh and they had a lot of grip, so he would have exited. It was so good that he would have been in the braking zone of Turn 4. I was next to him just before.
“Well, I mean, I tried. I would have tried to get past him if I could, and I wanted to, but a few more meters would have been nice.” It’s a strategic retreat. was. There will only be a few rounds of opportunity to play against Max. Suddenly I couldn’t find the pace I needed to compete with him throughout the entire race.
“And Fernando was behind me. We know that their race pace, especially when the temperature is high, they can run very good race pace most of the time. So yesterday he There was no clean air, but today he had a chance and could have achieved even more, and I didn’t want to jeopardize my race by trying again. .
“At the same time, the battery was almost empty or something like that. Also, heating up the tires too quickly can be costly. I tried. As much as it was, and probably could have been, in my opinion it wasn’t worth trying twice.The risks and what could happen if it ended up in the hands of Fernando and the people behind it. It wasn’t worth risking the consequences. Well, it was a lot of fun.
“I thought things might have been a little different if I had a little more space, or literally a few feet down. But at the same time, keeping Max behind him for the rest of the race. It would have been a whole new challenge. It was so good that I gave it a try. I think this was one of the first attempts in my F1 career to try and race past him. That’s a good thing though. , this last little thing has to work so well that we’ll be able to do it more often,” Norris summarized.
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