Verstappen defends start maneuver: “Race would have been over otherwise”

– Max Verstappen got the maximum out of his Red Bull with second place in the first Formula 1 race at the Madring. However, the Dutchman had to give up a position to Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, effectively losing two places. Verstappen did not agree with this – but knew that otherwise he would have faced a time penalty.

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“What am I supposed to do? If they tell me I have to do it, then I do it,” Verstappen explained after the race. His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase had instructed him to let Hamilton pass again. Since Kimi Antonelli was between Verstappen and Hamilton at that time, this practically meant giving up two positions.

Verstappen is convinced that refusal was not an option. “If I hadn’t done that, I would have gotten a penalty. No chance,” said the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen still sees himself as right

In the crucial scene of the first lap, however, Verstappen does not see the fault with himself. The Red Bull driver explains that Hamilton lost control of his car when going over the curbs and then jumped back onto the track.

“I would have had damage at the start if I had stayed on the track. Then the win would no longer have been possible. It’s that simple,” says Verstappen.

He said he was just driving his own line in turn one. Hamilton, on the other hand, tried to get past the two cars in front of him and ended up on the curb. “Lewis went after the first two drivers and went onto the curb. He just jumped back onto the track and that’s why I had to go off the track,” explains Verstappen.

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For him, the evasive action was necessary to avoid a collision. “If I had stayed there, I definitely would have had contact. Then my race might have been over already in turn two. That’s why I’m glad we are where we are now.”

“We didn’t have Kimi’s pace”

Despite the podium, Verstappen did not want to be seen as proof of a real chance of victory for Red Bull. “We maximized the result and probably also had a bit of luck, of course due to the unfortunate situation for Lando,” he says.

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Against Antonelli, Red Bull simply did not have the necessary speed. “I didn’t have Kimi’s pace and definitely not Lando’s pace,” Verstappen makes clear. Second place is therefore a strong result, but something is still missing for a real fight for the win.

The fact that Verstappen was sometimes less than a second behind Antonelli in the final phase created a false impression. “It might have looked a bit like we were fighting for the win. But that was more because Kimi was held up by Charles,” explains Verstappen.

As soon as Antonelli had a clear track, the Mercedes driver pulled away again. At the same time, Verstappen had to defend against pressure from Lando Norris behind him. Overtaking was difficult on the Madring anyway.

Red Bull cannot continue development indefinitely

Verstappen therefore still sees Red Bull with a clear gap to the front. “That’s the only thing we can do at the moment,” he says, looking to get the maximum out of every weekend and occasionally benefit from the misfortune of others.

At the same time, the team must continue to improve the overall package. “Now we have to rely on making our package, our overall package, a bit stronger to really get into a possible fight for the win.”

The problem: Red Bull has only limited possibilities for further development. Due to the budget cap, the team cannot simply continue the development pace of the first half of the season. Laurent Mekies had already admitted that the financial framework limits further development.

Verstappen had also already explained in Monza that although some updates for the 2026 car are still to come, the focus behind the scenes is already on 2027.

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