– Could Max Verstappen have won the Formula 1 debut in Madrid if he had not had to give up two positions shortly after the start on the instructions of his team? Because: “If you just drive a little in the middle of the track, you can’t overtake,” the Red Bull driver notes after the race.
Read more From Norris and Verstappen: How Antonelli was served the Madrid victory
When he received the instruction from his team to fall back, Verstappen was actually ahead of Antonelli in second place. But according to him and team principal Laurent Mekies, the victory would not have been realistic.
Because at the start Verstappen cut corner 2 and thus gained a position against Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari driver complained about the incident over the radio and demanded that Verstappen give the position back. But: For that, Verstappen would also have had to let Antonelli pass, whom he had also overtaken in the first lap.
When he received the instruction from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen was naturally not happy about it: “What the hell are you actually talking about?” he scolded towards the team. “He would have completely taken me out! I mean, what are you even talking about? If I just stay on the track, I’m out of the race.”
Red Bull: “Did not expect a thank-you email from Max”
As Mekies explained after the race on F1TV, Red Bull had already analyzed the scene at that point and decided that the risk of a penalty was not worth it. They thought it was better to accept the immediate setback and let Verstappen attack from behind.
“That is always a painful and difficult decision. But the guys at the command post looked at it very, very closely and made the analysis quickly because we had to make quick decisions,” Mekies explains.
“And of course, at that moment we did not expect a thank-you email from Max from the car. But we thought it was better to swallow the bitter pill at that moment and then fight back – which Max did excellently as always – rather than wait and risk a bigger penalty that could have cost us much more later.”
Important in this context: Red Bull did not act on instructions from the race control. If Verstappen had stayed ahead, the incident would have been submitted to the race stewards for investigation instead. According to Mekies, a potential penalty could have been five or ten seconds.
Red Bull wanted to avoid penalty
“The decision of the race stewards is never to give positions back,” he explains. “In this case, we would simply have been penalized, either with five or ten seconds – that is at their discretion.”
“So that would have happened. And if you imagine scenarios with safety cars or other circumstances, that can cost you far more than just one or two positions.”
Whether the FIA would have actually penalized Verstappen in the end if he had not given up the position is, however, not clear. Because officially the stewards had not yet initiated an investigation.
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Verstappen was demonstrably slower in lap four and initially let Antonelli and then Hamilton pass. For the four-time world champion, this decision came just in time, because shortly afterwards the Ferrari driver had brake problems and had to retire from the race – then Verstappen would not have been able to give the position back.
“Fortunately, Max gave up the positions before Lewis retired and then continued to fight in his race. Of course, that is frustrating, but to be honest, I think second place today was absolutely the best we could achieve,” says Mekies.
Driving off the track was the right decision
Verstappen does not regret giving the position back in hindsight: “If I hadn’t done that, I would have gotten a penalty. No chance,” he emphasizes on ORF. Whether he would have considered a penalty justified is another matter.
He only says that it was the right decision to miss the corner: “If I had stayed on the track, I would have damaged the car right at the start. So the win would definitely not have been possible then,” he says.
F1: Spanish Grand Prix (Madrid) 2026
“I just did my own thing in corner 1. But Lewis made an attack in the first two corners and got stuck on the curbs. He then simply jumped back onto the track, and that’s why I had to evade. If I had stayed there, it definitely would have crashed. So the race could have been over in corner 2 already.”
“That’s why I’m very happy with where we ended up under the given circumstances.”
With VSC luck to the maximum result
Verstappen knows that second place was already more than the car was actually capable of. “The result was the absolute maximum,” he admits. Because the virtual safety car in lap 14 helped not only Antonelli but also him. Verstappen was also in the pits and thus got past Lando Norris, who only pitted shortly afterwards under green and fell far back.
“We probably also had a bit of luck with Lando’s unfortunate situation. Because I had neither Kimi’s pace nor Lando’s pace,” says Verstappen. “That we are on the podium here is of course great. But yes, we are still missing a little something to really fight for the win on our own strength.”
“It may have looked from the outside as if we were fighting for the win, but that was more because Kimi was held up by Charles (Leclerc). As soon as he had a clear track, he drove away from me. And I was fully occupied holding Lando behind me.”
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But he managed that – and could also have managed it against Antonelli. Due to the scene in the first chicane, however, this remains pure theory.
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