Max Verstappen was relieved to come out on top after a “difficult” road to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The reigning Formula 1 champion overcame several hurdles to capitalise on Charles Leclerc’s retirement and claim his fourth win of the season in Barcelona.
“Difficult beginning, but a good end,” he smiled post-race.
“The first 30 laps were very frustrating for me after I went off at Turn 4, which really caught me by surprise.
Two almost identical slides at Turn 4 ?#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/JUribQ1dRo
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 22, 2022
“I didn’t feel like I was actually braking later or throwing more speed into the corner but it was very gusty out there today.
“Once I was back on the track, the car felt like normal – so I was lucky there of course.”
After losing places to George Russell and teammate Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s ability to recover was then hindered by a faulty DRS.
“I tried to pass but my DRS was not always working, so it made it made it very tough,” he added. “I tried to stay focused. Of course, it’s not nice when stuff like that happens.
“There’s nothing you can do. I spammed it like 50 times at one point on the straight and it’s just not opening so it was clearly an issue.
“I tried all kinds of different things, but it was just malfunctioning.”
The problem though did allow the Dutchman to enjoy his first significant battle with Russell in F1.
George ⚔️ Max
A cracking mini-battle ?#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MIjrc5UM2r
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 22, 2022
“I was more sad I couldn’t get past him because of my DRS issue and then of course you know, he was defending his position, which is fair enough,” he said.
“The fight itself was really cool also. I think that lap where I went on the outside at Turn 1, then George went around the outside at Turn 2 and I was around the outside of Turn 3 again, I think that was a really cool fight.
“I look back at it and I’ll smile now; at the time of course I was a little bit frustrated. But it was a really good and tough battle, I think.”
To get track position, Red Bull made the early call to put Verstappen onto a three-stop strategy before later easing him past teammate Perez, much to the annoyance of the Mexican.
We did it!!! ?
Definitely not the smoothest of days but we’ll take that! ??
To have another One-Two makes me very proud. A big thank you goes out to @SChecoPerez for being a great teammate once again ?
And also thanks to @redbullracing for the mega job on strategy ? (1/2) pic.twitter.com/xjjhJMPiaI
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) May 22, 2022
Despite his win, Max is already focusing on what Red Bull needs to do better, noting the advantage Leclerc had before his retirement.
“We were off on one-lap pace and in the race the first stint before I went off the track, Charles is pulling away a little bit,” he said.
“Of course, we have the lead in the championship, but you see, you have to be super reliable, you cannot drop points.
“Yeah, we have to work on our performance a little bit more. But for now, I think this race was very positive for the team.”