– According to Max Verstappen, giving up his position to Lewis Hamilton cost him important time in the Miami sprint race: “I had to let him pass, but he doesn’t get past me, so we lose four seconds because of that,” said Verstappen.
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The Red Bull driver had passed the seven-time champion on lap eight, with both going off track. Therefore, Verstappen had to give his position back to Hamilton shortly afterwards.
“That’s where we wasted our time. I don’t know what I could have done differently. So it’s really a shame, but after that we had an acceptable pace without traffic. There are still many things we need to work on because the car bounces a lot in slow sections, which costs me a lot of grip.”
Comeback against Russell
Since Verstappen was able to pass Hamilton again after this intermezzo, the Red Bull driver was even just behind George Russell at the end of the sprint. Verstappen was less than seven tenths behind the Briton at the finish line. Due to the time penalty for Kimi Antonelli, Verstappen was ultimately classified in fifth position.
In an interview with Sky Deutschland, Verstappen confirmed the positive, albeit cautious, impression from the sprint: “It wasn’t bad. I think in the end we were, of course, fighting with a Ferrari and a Mercedes, and that’s obviously much better than the last few races.”
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Formula 1 before restart: Is better racing coming now?
During the race, Verstappen had complained at times about braking problems. Nevertheless, the four-time world champion emphasized: “But [after the duel with Lewis] it wasn’t actually bad, still struggling with my problems on the rear axle in [the] slow corners and braking. A few more things we obviously need to solve, but it was already much better.”
With fifth place in the sprint, Verstappen was far ahead of his teammate Isack Hadjar. The latter had already struggled significantly more on Friday to tame the Red Bull on the street circuit.
In the end, it was only enough for ninth place in the sprint race. Hamilton finished about eight seconds behind Verstappen and ended the sprint in seventh position. The Ferrari driver could no longer benefit from the time penalty of the championship leader Antonelli.
In the drivers’ championship, Verstappen is in ninth place after the Miami sprint, 59 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli. In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull has only 20 points and a fourth place in the rankings. For comparison: Mercedes leads the field with 143 points.
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