Red Bull says Max Verstappen’s ability to read a race has been key to his Formula 1 victories this season. As the world champion team’s rivals have gotten closer and closer over the course of the season, Verstappen always seemed to have enough in hand to fend off anyone who was about to attack.
This story was repeated last weekend at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where McLaren driver Lando Norris appeared to threaten Verstappen in both the sprint and the main race – before the leading Red Bull could stretch its legs.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says the scenarios that played out were not because the team was sandbagging to hide its true advantage and only pushed hard when necessary.
Horner: Verstappen is now thinking more long-term
Instead, it was more a case of Verstappen being a master at managing his pace and the tires to ensure he always remained in control: “I think everyone manages their pace differently in a race, but I think Max is “I’ve become so good at reading a race,” explains Horner.
“He doesn’t panic when he sees someone in the middle taking time away from him or whatever. That’s because he takes a long-term view of the game. And I think he just has that inner confidence that he knows where He’s standing.”
Horner believes Verstappen is now reaping the rewards of the knowledge he has acquired over the past few years – even as he was beaten by the then-dominant Mercedes team.
Verstappen with big development steps in the 2019 season
Asked when he saw Verstappen develop this ability to judge his tire management perfectly, Horner said: “In 2019, I think in that time he really improved a lot. Then ’19 and ’20 up to one “To a certain extent. Mercedes had a rocket ship in ’20, but we were still able to win some races that year. And then of course ’21 was huge.”
But while Verstappen makes winning in Formula 1 look easy, he says high-stress races like Brazil are anything but easy to manage: “Maybe it looks quite easy from the outside, but I think that Lando is in almost everyone “I was able to keep up with my lap times during the stint,” says the world champion.
“It was always the last five to ten laps where it looked like we had better tire degradation. But yeah, at the beginning of each stint I definitely had to concentrate a lot and I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.”
“It’s not easy to drive around here, with the high tire ratings. It’s not like you can just relax and let the car roll into the corners without consequences. You really have to stick with it.”