F1 News
Verstappen causes surprise: 'Red Bull never expected that'
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen performed a special feat during the Russian Grand Prix. The Dutchman started the race from last place, but managed to finish in second position. According to Jolyon Palmer Verstappen was lucky with that.
Palmer saw that Red Bull Racing were hardly confident of a good result at the start of the weekend. However, the conditions during the race and the engine change that Mercedes applied to Valtteri Bottas gave Verstappen opportunities. "Verstappen got more points than if he had not applied an engine change and it was a dry race," the former Renault driver commented to the Chequered Flag podcast from the BBC.
Despite Lewis Hamilton's victory, Palmer says the result is mostly in the Austrian racing team's favour. "He was absolutely lucky. The damage control could not have been better than it did. Red Bull knew it could score points, but never expected to win the Grand Prix. It was a special recovery race for Verstappen."
Turkey GP coming up
Hamilton is still two points ahead in the world championship, giving Verstappen another chance to grab the lead at the race in Turkey. The GP is scheduled for next weekend.