Verstappen fired up by punchy McLaren team radio message in Las Vegas

08:28, 23 Nov

Updated: 09:04, 23 Nov

byBen Winship

Max Verstappen revealed that a motivational McLaren team radio message only fired him up more as he withheld pressure from Lando Norris to win the Las Vegas GP.

“It only motivates me to defend even harder.”

- Max Verstappen

When Norris overtook a struggling George Russell on lap 34 to regain second place, McLaren told him over the radio ‘we’re going to get Max’ who was five seconds further up the road.

Speaking to Viaplay after the race, it appeared Red Bull had relayed the punchy radio message to their driver.

“Yes, I heard that too, of course. I have to laugh about it. It only motivates me. It only works adversely. It only motivates me to defend even harder if he would have come.”

Verstappen kept control of the race lead on the hard tyres and ultimately won by a flattering margin of over 20 seconds after Norris dropped back in the closing stages of the race due to a fuel issue.

Never looked back

After Norris went deep into the first corner while defending from Verstappen behind, the Dutchman claimed the lead and never appeared to look back.

“We just managed it superbly. I had to push a little harder on the tyres than I wanted at the start because George came.

“But after that we just constantly did no crazy things. While the other cars behind me were sometimes very aggressive and started to push, we kept it constant. That's why the tyres held well.”

Norris fell into Russell's clutches due to a fuel issue in the closing laps - Photo: RacePictures

Norris’ first corner mistake meant that Verstappen could control the race from the front. He added: “That helped at least. Otherwise you might see it in the first stint. I think we had good speed on the hard tyre. But passing is something else.

“He aggressively closed the door. So I had to count to ten. One, two, ten. And of course I was braking way too late, so it turned out well.”

Verstappen has kept his championship ambitions alive and closed the margin to 42 points in Las Vegas with just two weekends remaining.

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