Red Bull admit Max Verstappen entered the unknown in terms of the performance of his Supersoft tyres in the closing laps of his remarkable recovery to P2 at the United States GP.
The Dutchman had it all to do from P18 after a gearbox penalty dropped him down five more places from his already lowly P13 from qualifying, however, much like Sochi last month, he quickly found himself back with the leading runners after a storming first few laps.
Such was his pace on the Soft compound Pirellis during his first stint and thanks to Kimi Raikkonen’s defensive work, he was within 10 seconds of the race lead before he pitted and performed the undercut on Valtteri Bottas to inherit what would be second after Lewis Hamilton’s second pit-stop.
“It was a bit unexpected, a good start, good first lap very quickly we were into P5 then we could follow the leaders,” he explained in Parc Ferme.
Opting to switch to the less durable Supersoft for a longer second stint of over 30 laps, team boss Christian Horner conceded there was an element of risk involved.
“We run a whole bunch of simulations to try and monitor the tyres and everything was telling us the tyres were done with six laps to go, but Max was saying he could manage it.
“All our tyre models were telling us there’s no way he will get to the end and he just did it and made it work. It was down to the temperature, and the change in pressure.”
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A fast gaining Hamilton did have one chance to attack in the closing laps as Max made the only mistake of his race at Turn 12, but their six-corner duel would see him come out ahead.
“There was a few corners near the end when I had to close the door a bit,” he said.
“I was on the edge and sliding a lot and Lewis ran out of room and then you get marbles on the tyres and then you need a lap until they have grip again.
“I was struggling in the last 2-3 laps with my tyres, but it made it more fun.”
Horner continued by lavishing praise on his 21-year-old prodigy, who offered a glimpse into what Formula 1 might expect in 2019.
“It’s brilliant what a drive from P18! He’s been a great man today racing for the lead there, what a drive!” he declared.
“I knew there was a lot of discussion going on behind, about gaining on Kimi and Hamilton was getting closer and closer and Max was saying “I’m doing it carefully”.
“This is vintage Max – fair and hard racing. Today he’s driven an unbelievable race, he should certainly get your driver of the day if he hasn’t already.”
Verstappen was indeed voted driver of the day by the fans and now he heads to Mexico where he won in convincing style 12 months ago.
