Verstappen took 'the gamble': 'Of course the risk is a bit higher'

With his set of hard tyres, Max Verstappen cut through hot butter like a knife during the early stages of the race. The choice of the hardest compound Pirelli tyres proved too right in hindsight: there was hardly any drop-off with this set and the later Grand Prix winner continued to run the fastest times of the field until the end of his long stint.

Verstappen was one of the few to start on the hard tyre in Miami, virtually all his colleagues (Lance Stroll also started on hard) opting for the mediums. Although drivers touted before the start of the race weekend that the degradation of hard tyres is minimal this season, Verstappen still seemed to take a small gamble.

Flat tyre on first lap

At the press conference after the Grand Prix, Verstappen said he had already discussed with his engineer to opt for hard on Saturday after the failed qualifying session. "We were quite strongly opinionated on that already," the Dutchman said. "Then, of course, you have to discuss it with the team, with the strategists, and yeah, they were like: ‘OK. In terms of race time, it was very close between doing a Medium/Hard or Hard/Medium. It didn’t really matter. But, of course, when you start on the Hard, the risk is a bit higher because we only had one, so if you had a lap one puncture or whatever, then of course your race is a bit tougher."

In hindsight, Verstappen said, he was happy to have taken "the gamble". "I think even if it was the other way around, of course you always have to look after your tyres, also on the Medium – but I just felt like maybe it gave me a better opportunity to get through the field initially. Because I mean, by lap 14 I think, I was already on a podium position, so from there onwards it’s mostly about driving in clean air and you have to look after your tyres anyway."