Verstappen had to restrain himself: "A lot of swear words"

Red Bull Racing dropped a stitch in the pit lane during Max Verstappen's pit stop at the American Grand Prix, which is new for the team. The stop lasted eleven seconds, forcing the race winner to restrain himself from freaking out.

While Red Bull is usually the team to beat in the pit lane with very fast pit stops, Verstappen's pit stop did not go well at the Circuit of the Americas. According to Verstappen, it was a stroke of luck. Indeed, the Dutchman believes that if there is to be a bad pit stop anyway it had better be at COTA. In the press conference that followed the race, the two-time F1 champion talks further about the bad pit stop.

Verstappen is asked what was going through him: "A lot of swear words. I was very mad." The Limburger held back, as over the board radio only a sarcastic Verstappen could be heard saying, "Beautiful, #$%* beautiful." Verstappen continued: "But immediately when you press the pit limiter off you have to keep your head down and go for it. But it wasn't made easy. But luckily this track is amazing to race at as well. So it's not like some other tracks where then your race is over."

Verstappen was able to fight his way back to victory in the final stint on the yellow medium tyre and make another big contribution to Red Bull's constructors' championship win. After the stop, Verstappen found himself behind his 2022 rival Charles Leclerc and also behind 2021 rival Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman caught up with both drivers on the track.