Max after maximum points at the Red Bull Ring: 'Did everything well as a team'

Published on 02 July 2023 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen was the toast of the town at the Red Bull Ring, where he assumed pole position for not only the sprint race but also the race itself, and was the first across both finish lines. The speedy Dutchman also snatched the fastest lap, and so the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver returned home with the maximum number of points.

“It’s been a pretty incredible weekend- of course, something I didn’t expect with the sprint format. Normally it’s always a bit more chaotic to get on top of everything,” Max reflected after the race. “I think we did everything well as a team. Today everything with the strategy, with the pitstops- everything was smooth. Out there on the track we just had a very quick car, and I felt comfortable in the car. We could do everything we wanted like we planned it.”

During the race itself, Max had to let Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari by, but Max enjoyed the resulting fight to regain P1. Thinking back on the fight, Max said: “It was good, but also, I mean, a little unfair; the tyre advantage I had as well, and I think also the general pace advantage. But, yeah I mean, of course, Charles: he knows how to race. You could see that also last year around here (in Austria). But, we were clearly just a bit faster today.”

With just two laps to go, Max made one extra pitstop, without losing his lead, in order to switch to soft tyres and secure the fastest lap of the race. How much of a risk was that? “To me, not,” Max explained, “But to the team, I think, they were a bit more nervous. But, I mean, I saw the gap (to Leclerc) and I was like: 'We have to pit, I want to go for the fastest lap.' When you have the opportunity, you know, and that’s what we did at the end. From the outside, maybe, it looks like a big risk, but in the car for me it didn’t feel like it was.”

Before he made the pitstop, Max had a 24-second advantage on Leclerc in P2. The competition did not seem quite as close as we thought they were 2 weeks ago after the race in Canada? “Exactly! But I loved all the articles about it!” Max joked, earning some chuckles from around the room. “Some weekends - they work a bit better for you, and some don’t. For me, Montreal wasn’t that fantastic in the race, from our side, and here I think we did a really good job, and then naturally the gap is a bit bigger.”