Max Verstappen wasn’t too disappointed admitting Lewis Hamilton had little to lose by switching strategy during the Hungarian GP.
The Dutchman appeared to have the race under control as he saw off threats from Mercedes both at the start and during the first pit-stop phase at the Hungaroring on Sunday.
But Hamilton soon showed a side we haven’t seen for some time with two epic charges after his two pit-stops, to catch and eventually pass the Red Bull with four laps to go.
“I think you always have to be realistic and today Mercedes was faster,” Verstappen conceded to Sky Sports.
“Lewis was pushing hard and when you’re in second, you can gamble a little bit more with going for a two-stop because the worst-case scenario is you stay second, and the best is you overtake me.
“Today, it worked out for them, but nonetheless, you could see it was hard for me to stay ahead.
“It was still a positive weekend for me, getting pole position and being second in the race. The fastest lap luckily means it’s an extra point so overall it’s been a good weekend.”
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Verstappen refused to be drawn on whether Red Bull should have responded to Hamilton’s second stop, claiming it was easy to look back in hindsight.
And team boss Christian Horner acknowledged they had been put in a tough situation to make a split-second call.
“We had track position but I think Mercedes just had a quicker car in the race today, to just follow within a second…that was mighty impressive,” he also told the British broadcaster.
“It gave them all the options with the free stop. To have pitted Max from the lead with him a second behind, it wouldn’t have been a sensible call from us. Max got everything out of the car as he could.
“By the end of the second sector, Lewis would have been ahead, so it didn’t make any sense to concede track position. The only chance was to try to hang it out.
“To have pitted from the lead from the position we were in would have been an impossible call.
“They had nothing to lose and it worked out for them, but it’s still been a hell of a weekend from Max – he’s closed the gap to Valtteri to seven points.”