Max Verstappen revealed the impact of his weekend’s turnaround at Imola in Parc Ferme after taking the win.
Punching his steering wheel in frustration Friday during Imola practice, Max Verstappen was far from happy.
However, a remarkable effort in fortunes saw him take second place on the grid for Sunday’s race, transforming his fortunes.
Taking the lead at the first corner from Oscar Piastri in a stunning move, Verstappen commanded the race.
Speaking in Parc Ferme, seven time world champion explained how he took the lead from the championship leader.
“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but then I was still on the outside line, or basically the normal line.
“And I was like, well, I’m just going to try and send around the outside and it worked really well. That, of course, then unleashed our pace because once we were in the lead, the car was good.”
A transformational weekend
Once out in the lead, Verstappen could control the pace, and was able to pull away from Piastri with ease.
Despite the Virtual Safety Car and later, a full Safety Car threatening his lead, Verstappen still had the measure of both McLarens.
“I could look after my tyres and we had a very good pace on it today. So again, massive improvement from Friday and I’m probably very pleased with that.
Then that VSC was quite handy to pit.And even then, even on the hard compound, I think our pace was very strong.
But then, of course, there was a Safety Car, so the field was all back together. But even then on the restart, I think we managed it all really well and, yeah, brought it home.”
“incredibly proud of everyone. It’s been a very important week for us. The car has performed really well.And also I think the whole execution of the whole race, you know, went to pit, the pit stops themselves, they were all very good.
Winning a special race for Red Bull
Imola marked Red Bull’s 400th race since entering F1 in 2005. Asked by David Coulthard for his thoughts on winning the race, the Dutchman said:
” I like driving. I like, of course, racing in Formula 1″. He continued: “I like racing any kind of car.And, of course, next week, completely different kind of track in Monaco. You know, that’s also going to be very challenging. But for the moment, I just want to enjoy today and really take it in.
“It’s always fantastic to be in Italy, proper passion for motorsports. So, yeah, it’s fantastic to see all these fans out there the whole weekend. So, yeah, thank you very much for coming and supporting all the drivers.
