Horner praises Max Verstappen's smart action in Sochi
F1 News
Max Verstappen had to push hard to secure P2 in qualifying. According to Christian Horner, this was mainly achieved by a trick the Dutchman used.
For the last run in Q3, Verstappen decided to go out quite late. While Valtteri Bottas had already finished his last run, the Dutchman had only started his attempt at that moment. According to Christian Horner, that is where Verstappen's strength lies.
“Max has started the lap strongly. He was very smart and waited for Valtteri to finish his flying lap. He, therefore, got a slipstream from his opponent. When he got to the first corner, he was already one tenth of a second faster than his fastest lap so far," the Red Bull Racing team boss told Sky.
Get everything out of the car
At that moment, Verstappen was not in possession of P2, he couldn't afford to make a mistake later in the lap. “He really had to bring the lap together. It was a phenomenal lap, very precise. Max really got the most out of the car," the Brit concludes. It was just enough to beat Bottas by 0.089 of a second.