Verstappen faced problems after failed stop: 'Tyres got very hot'

Initially, it looked to be an easy win for Verstappen, but after two safety cars and a bad stop, he lost his lead as well as the race lead. Moreover, he struggled with the tyres in the final stint, a problem made worse by not driving in free air.

Problems with tyres Verstappen

"The tyres just run really hot. They’re also new, so they still need to come up to temperature. Then being behind the car in high-speed corners, you have to turn always a bit more which is not great for the tyre. So once you're in clean air, then automatically they cool down a bit Verstappen," said in the press conference.

For that reason, it took Verstappen a bit longer to get past Charles Leclerc and then Lewis Hamilton. The way he overtook the Mercedes driver the Red Bull driver partly attributes to the character of the circuit. "The track really lets you do that as well, because it's quite wide. These kinds of corners, you can really brake deep into the corner, and then the other car can come back at you in the exit," concluded Verstappen, who says he enjoyed the battles during the race.