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Verstappen jokes: 'Poor guy has had some tough races'
Max Verstappen is very pleased with the performance of himself and his RB19 in the sprint race in the United States. The Red Bull Racing driver kept Charles Leclerc behind him at the start, and afterwards, he jokingly shared compliments with Michael Manning.
"It went very well. The most important thing was to stay calm at the start and keep the tyres whole. Once I had Lewis out of my DRS, I was able to drive my own pace, and that was the most important thing in that part of the start," Verstappen analysed his race before zooming in a little deeper on his start. "I gave him just enough space, of course, and I made it as tight as possible so he couldn't brake so late. That worked out well in the end," he told Viaplay.
Over the team radio, Verstappen complimented a team member after crossing the finish line. It was Michael Manning responsible for the starting procedures. "Yeah, it's my start guy. I mean, the poor guy has had a few tough races, so I was just joking, like that it wasn't too bad this time," laughed the three-time world champion in the press conference.
Driveability
During the sprint shootout, Verstappen suffered driveability issues. At the start of the sprint race, we heard Verstappen calling something about it again, but it was fine to drive. "In the end, it wasn't too bad because in the race, you don't drive as aggressively as in qualifying. That already helps automatically."
On Sunday, the Red Bull driver has to drive from P6 to first place, a nice job. "Confidence is definitely there, but overtaking is another story. We were three or four-tenths a lap faster, but I think you need something more to overtake. We'll see," he concludes.
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