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windsor verstappen leclerc afterthought qualifying las vegas

Windsor surprised: 'Max Verstappen tried too hard in Q3'

18 November 2023 at 19:30
  • GPblog.com

While in Las Vegas everyone had taken to their warm beds, Peter Windsor turned on his webcam for an in-depth analysis of qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The former F1 contributor was full of praise for Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari team, who drove Max Verstappen well behind in Q3.

"I think Max Verstappen didn't really get it together on that last Q3 run," Windsor said on his own YouTube channel. "He was trying too hard which is an indication that he got the limit from the car on his first run in Q3."

Windsor expects exciting Las Vegas Grand Prix

With his connoisseur's eye, Winsor had seen where Ferrari made the difference against Red Bull Racing: "On light fuel, with the soft tyre, there's no doubt the Ferrari has enough margin in terms of its speed through the air, it's top speed, because it doesn't have quite as much downforce as the Red Bull, inherent downforce, I'm talking about here not wing settings and because of that there's enough margin with which to play around there and I think they'll be in very good shape for the race as a result."

According to Windsor, Verstappen found the limit of his car in his first run in Q3: "Max found the limit of the car very comprehensively and drove beautifully I thought and as we've seen already on full tanks, with a full load of fuel on the car, the Red Bull is a very very quick package so it'll be a very good race tomorrow." The Australian believes Red Bull has an advantage over Ferrari with the DRS, and that the deciding factor is going to be who handles their tyres best."