Verstappen puts Red Bull’s US GP execution under scrutiny: "It's a learning moment'
Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Max Verstappen has admitted Red Bull made a number of mistakes during the United States Grand Prix as he described the race in Austin as an opportunity to learn.
The four-time world champion was vocal after the race, listing a number of reasons as to how the race went wrong. That included his pace, the team's tyre choice and the overall performance of the Red Bull, as he finished behind Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc in third.
Reflecting on the Austin weekend, Verstappen acknowledged that the strategy could have been improved, although the hard compound’s competitiveness had been difficult to predict going off it's lack of effectiveness in previous races.
“It was a lot of different things. Of course, the strategy, I think we could have done a better job with the tyre choice,” he said.
“But, again, I think not many people expected it to be the hard tyres that would be that competitive because they haven’t really been in the last few races. So that’s something that can happen.
ADVERTISEMENT
“When you add all those things together, it’s enough time loss. And that for sure hurt our overall performance. But that’s what it is."
Verstappen: Austin is a learning moment
Verstappen also told the media that he along with the rest of the Red Bull team need to understand how and why the United States Grand Prix went wrong.
“Normally, we’re always very good at these things, but sometimes you get a weekend where it’s a learning moment where you can do better.”
Verstappen had gone into the US Grand Prix with two straight wins in Sepang and Singapore, a big factor as to why hopes were high in Austin. Verstappen arrives into this weekend's race in Mexico, right in the thick of the battle for P2 in the championship.
ADVERTISEMENT
Just nine points separate George Russell currently in P2, Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc.
Don’t miss GPblog in Google
Mark us as a preferred source and our articles will appear more often at the top of Top Stories.
Add as a preferred / source on Google