Verstappen jokes about safety car: ''Abu Dhabi 2021 springs to mind''

"This one was obviously very nice, but also very tough," Verstappen indicated to Viaplay. "After fifteen laps you do start to count the laps, it was physically tough, but super nice. That safety car didn't help at the end, otherwise we could have ridden it out in a controlled manner. That of course made it more exciting for everyone."

The safety car also came up in the press conference. The Red Bull Racing driver saw his seven-second lead disappear like snow in the sun, but he didn't want to complain about that. He stated that he had already benefited from a safety car in other races. "Abu Dhabi last year comes to mind, of course," he laughs.

No test starts Verstappen

It all started at the start, of course. Carlos Sainz was immediately overtaken via the outside. That Verstappen got off so well was somewhat surprising. "Very good I think especially in the start. I didn't have a start all weekend because of the troubles. So, I didn't know what to expect. I think we did a decent launch and I saw the opportunity to go around the outside and it worked well. said the number two in the World Championship, who indicated he was a little bummed by Perez's fourth place finish. "We have to be on top of that and just have a problem-free weekend. We understand it and make sure it doesn't happen."

Perez suffered a sensor problem, which briefly caused him to lose about 25 horsepower and over the entire race he was about half a second a lap slower than before. That made a podium finish, despite fresh rubber, prove impossible.