Verstappen unstoppable: 'Even that wouldn't have mattered'

Red Bull Racing was the favourite to win the Mexico Grand Prix, but it wasn't plain sailing for the Austrian team. Max Verstappen didn't manage to grab pole position, partly due to an action of Yuki Tsunoda during the qualification. Kees van de Grint feels it is unfair to blame the Japanese driver for this.

The analyst tells in RTL Slipstream Verstappen was also not at top level on Saturday. "Max was so fast. Then in qualifying things don't go as you wish, but it was completely unfair of Horner to blame Tsunoda for that. It just didn't work out," says Van de Grint. "He also had too much oversteer. Then a scapegoat has to be found: a pity!

Van de Grint saw that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas did surprisingly well. "Mercedes were surprisingly fast, but if you see the times in the race they didn't get there at all," he states, then looks back at the start. "I thought Bottas was actually getting in his teammate's way more than he was getting in Max's way. If he had kept his line, then it would have been a bit more difficult for Max. But even that wouldn't have mattered. Even if he had come through the first lap second or third he would have been in the lead on the fifth lap."

Perez tried to overtake Hamilton at the end of the race. The Mexican came dangerously close on a number of occasions, but the seven-time world champion held his ground and took second place in the process.