Max Verstappen plans to re-watch the F1 Qatar GP to understand the strategic scenario going forward in the race, hailing the McLaren duo as the best on the grid.
It was a relatively close result for Red Bull’s Verstappen vs. Oscar Piastri and McLaren’s Lando Norris at the F1 Qatar GP with just over four seconds in the lead. This was partly due to the Grand Prix’s strategic scenario, as well as the Dutchman’s late pit stop.
Verstappen believes the gap should have been a bit bigger, but he still feels McLaren is catching up. “I think it was a good race overall,” he said. “I think what really enriched my race was the first stint, where I was pretty strong and handled the tires well. I had a little bit more offset on the tires compared to the McLaren, so I went a little longer on most sets. I was able to run, but it may have been a little costly depending on the location due to out laps etc.
“Then there were times when the gap looked a little smaller than it should have been. Then when we put on the hard tires, we had to drive through traffic, so we spent quite a bit of time on the last two or three laps. And I had to slow down to the end so they were very close behind me. But certainly overall, they were very fast of course throughout the weekend. It is.
“So it seemed like they were going faster and faster compared to me, especially since the fuel was leaking.” And of course, in my personal opinion, the three-stop duty was me It wasn’t ideal for us. Because our car has good tires. So this is the fastest way, so if you needed to do longer stints it probably would have been a little better.
“But yes, at the end of the day, it was the same for everyone we had to stop. We had to deal with it. And yes, maybe driving too. It became a little more difficult. We had to push quite hard,” Verstappen summed up, thinking that Red Bull’s tires were better suited for longer stints, explaining a strategic scenario that did not suit Red Bull.
This affected McLaren and closed the gap. At one point Verstappen was also asked to go faster, but that’s because he wants to watch the Grand Prix again and understand what happened there and what was going on behind him in a strategic sense. That’s what I’m thinking. However, he praised McLaren, pointing out that they currently have the best pair on the grid.
“I think it was the first stint where most of the drivers were boxing. My front left car still looked pretty good,” Verstappen said. “Well, I think today didn’t help us in that regard…Normally our tendency is to go for long stints and take care of the tires, and of course that didn’t work out for us today. Because the stints were too limited. But I think at some point the engineer told us to go a little faster, and we always had the pace to go fast.
“I need to watch the race again to understand a little more what was going on behind the scenes. I think they had a little more speed when they really needed it, but I still don’t want to take anything away from McLaren. They You’re doing a great job and you can see they’re getting closer and closer, so naturally you have to try to keep a little distance.
“As a team, I think they’re probably the most consistent compared to the teams behind them. And I think they have the best driver lineup of all. Yeah, they It’s going to go really well. Yes, it’s going to be interesting until the end of the year, but I also think it will take until early next year to see where everyone is,” Verstappen summarized.
Here’s how F1 Qatar GP panned out
