Max Verstappen claims getting ahead at the start was the key to his “amazing” victory at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Dutchman capitalised on a slow launch for teammate Daniel Ricciardo to move clear into Turn 1 and didn’t look back as he secured a second consecutive win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“It is amazing, the start was the key,” the Red Bull man said.
“Into Turn 1 everyone got boxed in and that was nice for me, I had to brake deep but Lewis didn’t want to risk anything from there I could do my own race and that was crucial.”
Indeed it was as the 21-year-old could control his pace and avoid the worst of the tyre graining which hit all three cars right behind him.
“In all honesty, I didn’t sleep that well last night,” Verstappen revealed after being very upset to miss out on pole in qualifying. “Everyone did an amazing job, we had the right tyres and the team did fantastically.
“This track at such a high altitude cancels out a little bit of the dynamic, but our mechanical grip is even better and we have the downforce advantage here.”
It wasn’t a perfect day for Red Bull though as Ricciardo would suffer an apparent hydraulics problem approaching the end, costing the Milton Keynes outfit a possible 1-2 finish.
“You just want to make sure that nothing happens, and we were that far in the lead that it was ok and we could turn it [the engine] down,” Verstappen said on the response to prevent him suffering the same fate.
Also for the second straight year, his win was overshadowed by Lewis Hamilton wrapping up the Drivers’ Championship, something Max hopes to be fighting for in 2019.
“I think Lewis was the more consistent one fighting for the title and he deserves it,” he commented. “I hope we can be a lot closer next year.”