Verstappen and Leclerc agree: F1 has turned into Mario Kart!

In the midfield, an intense battle unfolded, with overtakes often proving temporary. “Yeah, chaos,” Verstappen told Viaplay after the race.

Charles Leclerc backed up Verstappen’s remark: he compared Mercedes’ speed to something familiar from the same game. “This is like a mushroom in Mario Kart,” he said over the team radio.

Leclerc was referring to a speed boost that players can get in the game. Race engineer Bryan Bozzi seemed less familiar with it, as he responded only a minute later: “That was a funny one!”

Verstappen began making up places after a crash in Q1. In the opening phase he managed to stay out of trouble and quickly made up several places. He eventually worked his way up to sixth place, while also setting the fastest lap of the race. That no longer means an extra point since 2025, but it does confirm the pace of the RB22.

Even so, the race was far from trouble-free according to Verstappen. Speaking to GPblog, he pointed to a problem at the start that left him without power due to a battery issue.

“Terrible, I had no battery. Somehow on the formation lap, it drained all the battery,” he said.