Verstappen Victorious amid Red Bull off-track tension
Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix in clinical fashion, in Saudi Arabia the Dutchman did exactly the same. He cruised to victory ahead of teammate Sergio Perez. It is the first time Verstappen has won the opening two rounds of an F1 season.
After the race, Verstappen was told that he has achieved 100 podiums in Formula 1, including 56 wins. "Overall, a fantastic weekend for the team and myself," said the Red Bull driver. "The last stint was a bit longer than we would've liked but with the safety car you had to go for it."
"So the last few laps, with the back markers and cold tyres was a bit slippery. We had good pace all round so we could manage it quite well. You don't want to do such a long stint on that tyre, but we had to. With the high speed corners, if the tyre falls out of the window a little bit, it makes it a bit more tricky."
The circuit in Jeddah is known to place stress on the drivers' necks. Verstappen admitted that it was indeed a tough race. "Early in the season, anti-clockwise, a lot of Gs throughout the lap, it's one of the most physical ones," Verstappen concluded.