Windsor hints at the secret behind Verstappen’s race day dominance

17:11, 01 Nov

Updated: 18:57, 01 Nov

bySamson Ero

Peter Windsor has shed light on the reason behind Max Verstappen’s race-day dominance following the Dutch driver’s impressive stint on the soft tyres at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

“He puts in a massive amount of work, and then he makes it look relatively easy on race day.”

- Peter Windsor

The 73-year-old, who reflected on his podcast on the Dutch driver’s tyre management strategy at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, attributed the impressive tyre stint from the Red Bull Racing driver to hard work throughout the race weekend.

Windsor said: “It’s just hard work. You think Max Verstappen enjoys going out to do an eight-lap fuel run on mediums when everybody else is out on softs doing single-lap runs and seeing his name as P15 on the timesheet or whatever it is? It’s hard work.

“But as Gary Player [golf icon] always said, you hit a thousand bunker shots, and then one day you’re going to hole it in front of the crowd on the 18th from the bunker to win a tournament. They’re all going to say, ‘What a lucky shot.’ And he’ll say, ‘Well, there’s a lot of hard work in there too.’"

Max Verstappen driving during the Mexico City Grand Prix - Photo: Race Pictures

The Australian added: “That’s the point about Max Verstappen. He puts in a massive amount of work, and then he makes it look relatively easy on race day. Everyone will look back now and say, ‘Oh, look how good those softs were.’ Well, they’re only that good because of the amount of work he did on Friday and Saturday, learning how to drive on them with fuel in the car.”

During the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, Verstappen put in a mega soft-tyre stint, running on the red compound for 32 laps and oscillating between the low and mid 1:21s.

Red Bull boss hails Verstappen’s soft tyre stint at Mexico GP

Laurent Mekies also lauded Verstappen’s soft tyre stint during the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing team boss described the red tyre compound run by the Dutch driver as ‘unbelievable.’

Mekies also reflected on how the four-time world champion, alongside the team strategist, helped the team turn what was shaping up to be a forgettable weekend into a podium finish.