Has Verstappen given Norris a glimmer of hope? 'That wasn't ideal'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Max Verstappen reiterated that Red Bull made solid improvements during the United States Grand Prix weekend after the Dutchman received upgrades but knows the team must continue to improve. Verstappen suggests there is still a weakness which could give Lando Norris a glimmer of hope in the remaining five Grands Prix and two sprint races.
"It was quite a difficult second stint," said the reigning world champion, who got into a fight with Norris partly because of it. "I lost a lot of grip on the front axle. It was very difficult to brake. And I think that's what made my defence more difficult. Because I knew that if I would break a little bit too late, I could lock up and I really didn't have the front grip, so it wasn't easy for me out there," Verstappen added.
How Verstappen reflects on the weekend
Still, Verstappen speaks of a "positive weekend" for Red Bull. "Still a few things that we want to do better to be in that fight, because I honestly believed going into the race that I would be in the fight and we weren't. So that wasn't ideal, but at least it did show some promising signs that maybe we could be back in the fight."
Verstappen senses the RB20 is not as kind on its tyres as their rivals, McLaren and Ferrari. "But we cannot do 5 pit stops in a race. Every time [with] new tyres for one lap it feels a lot better, yes for sure. We need to be good on a race stint as well. So this is something that we are trying to work on," Verstappen added.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton