Why Max Verstappen Isn’t Worried About Lewis Hamilton’s Superior Pace
Published at : November 16, 2021
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took a new ICE in Brazil and he has been unstoppable since, storming from the back of the grid to 5th in the Sprint Qualifying and from 10th to a victory in the race. Some have suggested that this is an ominous sign for Red Bull and Max Verstappen as there are only three races left but Max isn’t too worried as he has now explained during the post-race press conference
Link to poll: https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkxvsv84sSJk3Rhj3xsnFsb9TBxJEJqAmQ8
0:00 - Why Max Verstappen Isn’t Worried About Lewis Hamilton’s Superior Pace
1:26 - Fast Feed
I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Why Max Verstappen Isn’t Worried About Lewis Hamilton’s Superior Pace
Max began by explaining how 2nd was the best he could do in Brazil
“I think it was hard racing but good racing and that’s how it should be. I was hoping for a little bit more performance but this result is definitely the maximum we could do”
He pointed out how he was defenseless when it came to top speed
“Top speed wise it was tough to defend, you can clearly see when they take a fresh engine that it gives them a bit more power”
He, however, added that the advantage at the front has been swapping hands between Red Bull and Mercedes throughout the season
“It’s been like this the whole year. It went up, comes down, went behind, I’m back in front, so you know a lot of things can happen still”
He signed off by explaining why he isn’t worried about the pace shown by Lewis Hamilton in Brazil
“Of course, taking the new engine clearly gains them a bit of performance initially – but that will slowly come back to normal. So, yeah, maybe it looks a little bit more dramatic now but I’m confident that slowly that will be a bit more normal”
Fast Feed
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has stated that “it was close and it was fun, but I am not here to have fun, I am here to deliver”
“I had a great start but then it was very difficult to hold Lewis back, I tried my best to hold onto him but I couldn’t, he was flying!”
“Then we were ahead of Bottas by two seconds, we had the position and we had the podium but two laps later the virtual safety car came in. That timing was extremely unlucky for us and it worked perfectly for him”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has suggested that “to come away with second and fourth today, plus the fastest lap was damage limitation this weekend”
“We scored 20 points for Max this weekend versus their 25 for Lewis in the Drivers’ Championship, so we’ll take that. We put up as good a defence as we could”, he added
“We’ve got some catching up to do this week. There’s a lot of racing still to go, so we’ll brush ourselves down and come back fighting in Doha”, he summed up
Mercedes' team principal Toto Wolff stated that they “started the weekend on the backfoot with [their] self-inflicted engine penalty”
“We got disqualified yesterday which was harsh, and then today in the race, things went against us too”
“It felt like everything was against us and I think that’s what Lewis has felt all his life and we now feel it together as a team. We’re going to fight – that is the emotion we’re feeling in the garage at the moment”
McLaren’s Lando Norris feels that it was “a disappointing day for all of [them] as a team, as well as for [himself]”
“I had a really good start and as I tried to come back onto the track there just wasn’t enough room and I ended up getting the puncture”, he added
“We could’ve scored some good points. We’ll review it and try to do a better job next time. The fight back through was good, managing to score a point, which is better than nothing”, he summed up
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly is “really happy, it’s been a very intense race, but I think we can be pleased with today”
“There were some really nice battles, with Daniel and Seb, then at the end of the race with the Alpines. It was so fun to be racing with them, as we don’t often get to do that in F1”
“It was of course hard, but today we finished in the best position we could, behind the top three teams, and that’s the most important thing, as we continue our fight”
Will Red Bull be able to close the gap to Mercedes in Qatar?
Link to poll: https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkxvsv84sSJk3Rhj3xsnFsb9TBxJEJqAmQ8
0:00 - Why Max Verstappen Isn’t Worried About Lewis Hamilton’s Superior Pace
1:26 - Fast Feed
I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Why Max Verstappen Isn’t Worried About Lewis Hamilton’s Superior Pace
Max began by explaining how 2nd was the best he could do in Brazil
“I think it was hard racing but good racing and that’s how it should be. I was hoping for a little bit more performance but this result is definitely the maximum we could do”
He pointed out how he was defenseless when it came to top speed
“Top speed wise it was tough to defend, you can clearly see when they take a fresh engine that it gives them a bit more power”
He, however, added that the advantage at the front has been swapping hands between Red Bull and Mercedes throughout the season
“It’s been like this the whole year. It went up, comes down, went behind, I’m back in front, so you know a lot of things can happen still”
He signed off by explaining why he isn’t worried about the pace shown by Lewis Hamilton in Brazil
“Of course, taking the new engine clearly gains them a bit of performance initially – but that will slowly come back to normal. So, yeah, maybe it looks a little bit more dramatic now but I’m confident that slowly that will be a bit more normal”
Fast Feed
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has stated that “it was close and it was fun, but I am not here to have fun, I am here to deliver”
“I had a great start but then it was very difficult to hold Lewis back, I tried my best to hold onto him but I couldn’t, he was flying!”
“Then we were ahead of Bottas by two seconds, we had the position and we had the podium but two laps later the virtual safety car came in. That timing was extremely unlucky for us and it worked perfectly for him”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has suggested that “to come away with second and fourth today, plus the fastest lap was damage limitation this weekend”
“We scored 20 points for Max this weekend versus their 25 for Lewis in the Drivers’ Championship, so we’ll take that. We put up as good a defence as we could”, he added
“We’ve got some catching up to do this week. There’s a lot of racing still to go, so we’ll brush ourselves down and come back fighting in Doha”, he summed up
Mercedes' team principal Toto Wolff stated that they “started the weekend on the backfoot with [their] self-inflicted engine penalty”
“We got disqualified yesterday which was harsh, and then today in the race, things went against us too”
“It felt like everything was against us and I think that’s what Lewis has felt all his life and we now feel it together as a team. We’re going to fight – that is the emotion we’re feeling in the garage at the moment”
McLaren’s Lando Norris feels that it was “a disappointing day for all of [them] as a team, as well as for [himself]”
“I had a really good start and as I tried to come back onto the track there just wasn’t enough room and I ended up getting the puncture”, he added
“We could’ve scored some good points. We’ll review it and try to do a better job next time. The fight back through was good, managing to score a point, which is better than nothing”, he summed up
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly is “really happy, it’s been a very intense race, but I think we can be pleased with today”
“There were some really nice battles, with Daniel and Seb, then at the end of the race with the Alpines. It was so fun to be racing with them, as we don’t often get to do that in F1”
“It was of course hard, but today we finished in the best position we could, behind the top three teams, and that’s the most important thing, as we continue our fight”
Will Red Bull be able to close the gap to Mercedes in Qatar?
VerstappenIsn’tWorried