Verstappen on key moment in season: 'Very important weekend'

Max Verstappen gloriously celebrated his second world title this season. At the start of the racing year, however, the Dutchman did not have it so easy. The Red Bull Racing driver tells Formula1.com that he felt he could make the difference in Imola.

During the first three Grands Prix, rival Charles Leclerc managed to clinch first place in the world championship. This was partly because Verstappen had to pull over early in both Bahrain and Australia due to problems with his car.

At Imola, Verstappen then managed to make the difference. He captured the fastest time in qualifying, closed the sprint race winningly and managed to stay ahead of Leclerc in the main race as well. It made Verstappen feel more confident in his car.

Verstappen therefore thinks that in Imola was the turning point. "The Imola weekend was very good," he recalls. "We had a really strong weekend. Then, of course, the gap [to Leclerc] was slowly reducing – that’s normally always a good sign."

"Honestly, I don’t really remember what race I thought that it was back on, but I think for us, as a team, Imola was a very important weekend, to have that kind of result," said Verstappen, who eventually ended the season with a 146-point lead over Leclerc.