Verstappen's Mastery Continues with China Victory

Following a decisive Sprint win and a dominant Grand Prix, Max Verstappen extends his winning streak in China, showcasing significant improvements.

Following his victory in the Sprint and securing his fifth pole position in as many Grand Prix this season, Max Verstappen was once again untouchable this Sunday in China, claiming his fourth win of the year. One can imagine that the three-time world champion is particularly pleased after such domination.

“Obviously, it’s a great feeling. Of course, you never know how the weekend will unfold. Sprint weekends are always a bit more chaotic. You always want everything to go smoothly. I also think the performance of the car during the Grand Prix was an improvement over the Sprint. So that made my life a little easier. I could be a bit more consistent in driving.”

While the success of the Red Bull driver was unquestioned, he still had to manage race restarts after two safety car appearances. But it did not disturb him.

“It wasn’t complicated, it was just a bit… I found it took a long time for the first car to be cleared. And then I felt like we did an extra lap behind the safety car for no reason. So I was like, ‘come on, speed it up’. Then, of course, we had another safety car and I felt, once again, it took a long time to clear, because you want to race, right? And actually, I thought because of the two safety cars, it was a bit less fun, because there would probably have been more different strategies between the cars. After that, everyone went to the end, except Fernando who was on soft tires. So that was a bit of a shame, I think.”

Thus, it was another nearly flawless race for the Dutchman…

“I slightly locked the wheel during the second restart at turn 6, which wasn’t ideal. Then, I threw a tear-off, which I could hear at the air intake. It started flapping and hitting my helmet. I don’t know where it ended up. And for two laps, I think I drove over a small piece of debris before turn 14. It was a bit scary because it’s easy to get a puncture at high speed when you drive over carbon. I think that’s all.”

A 26th track added to Verstappen’s achievements.

As Formula 1 had not visited China since the 2019 season, Max Verstappen was able to add a new circuit to his achievements, now counting 58 wins on 26 different tracks.

“Yes, it was really a race I wanted to win. I had been on the podium before, but I had never won here, so that was great, for sure. And yes, I mean, I really enjoyed the whole weekend. It was really good with a great car.”

All signs suggest that Red Bull will once again be the favorite in Miami in two weeks, but Verstappen, as always, never wants to claim victory too soon.

“It’s a completely different circuit. You know, different tires, different tarmac, so you never know. We need to be perfect. We need to try to be perfect. We always need to try to find the best settings on the car, you know, to be able to perform as we did this weekend. So that’s what we’re going to try to do, but on the other hand, I don’t want to think about it too much right now. First, we need to go home, then we’ll prepare as we always do, and we hope that will be good enough when we get there.”