Max Verstappen F1: Red Bull driver did not see himself winning in Miami without a Safety Car

Max Verstappen did not cross the line as the winner for the second time this season. It was Lando Norris who took his first F1 victory in the Miami Grand Prix after taking advantage of a Safety Car. However, Verstappen thinks that he himself might not have won without the Safety Car.

Verstappen got away well at the start at the Miami International Autodrome. Oscar Piastri moved up to second position ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, after Sergio Pérez’s late braking caused a messy first corner. The Limburger could not really pull away from the Australian and his lead did not exceed about four seconds. Meanwhile, Norris first fought for fifth place with Pérez, among others, but chose to go in last. Even on old mediums, the McLaren driver managed to increase the pace. Norris stayed in the lead thanks to a free pit stop during the Safety Car for Logan Sargeant’s crash and built a lead after the restart in the hunt for victory.

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Insane pace

“I didn’t really see him at the start as I was more focused on Oscar behind me and the Ferraris,” Verstappen said of Norris at the press conferences in Miami. “But then I stopped and I heard the pace he was doing on used mediums. I was like, ‘That’s insane’. I mean, I could never have done that myself. So I knew that even if there was no Safety Car If he had come out on fresher tires I would have had to push very hard to keep him behind me. Even with the Safety Car we had chances to win today, but we were clearly not fast after the Safety Car enough.”

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Hard tire disastrous

“It was pretty bad,” the championship leader continued about how Red Bull’s RB20 performed in Miami. “The entire weekend I never really felt comfortable with it. I think it was okay on the mediums, but on the hard tire it was a real disaster. I’m talking about little grip and a very difficult balance in the corners at low speed. I couldn’t actually lean on the rear through the high-speed corners because of the understeer.”

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