Croft: 'Verstappen got lucky'

At the Sky Sports F1 Podcast this week, David Croft is our guest. The Formula 1 commentator for British Sky Sports analyses, among other things, Max Verstappen's race. The Dutchman was forced to play catch-up after a drive shaft problem in qualifying.

Verstappen said over the board radio during Q2 that there was a problem. This prevented him from taking part in qualifying, eventually forcing him to start the race from spot 15. After only 25 laps, the two-time world champion was already in second place. According to Croft, the safety car came at a fortunate moment for the Dutchman. "He got a bit lucky in the race. The safety car helped him because he hadn't pitted at that stage when it came. But you need a bit of luck to slice your way through the field from 15th. It was a super drive."

Yet at the start it did not seem very easy for Verstappen to get to the front. He himself already said it was difficult to follow through the twisty first sector. Croft too saw that Verstappen was struggling. "The Red Bull is a difficult car to handle in traffic. He was going to have to put up with a bit of understeer from time tot time", said the commentator.

Croft on fastest lap Verstappen

Verstappen was second at halfway through the race and then had only his teammate Sergio Pérez ahead of him. He did not have the speed to close the gap of about six seconds, leaving only the point for the fastest lap in the race to be fought for by both Red Bull drivers. "Max was there, save of the knowledge that he could put that fastest lap in on the last lap and 'Checo' wouldn't be able to respond. He had saved everything up for that, because he knew that with four laps to go there was no way he was going to catch his teammate", explained the Briton.