Max Verstappen achieved his big goal in the Formula 1 Sprint in Qatar, but not his small goal. First of all, the most important thing: With the result from the sprint, the Red Bull driver became Formula 1 world champion for the third time. He actually wanted to celebrate that with a win, but he had to settle for second place behind Oscar Piastri.
Because he couldn’t do anything against the McLaren driver in the final phase – too much of the race went against his strategy. Verstappen initially opted for the medium tire, but in the first few laps it clearly lost out to the soft tire.
“Lando [Norris] “And I got eaten up a little at the start and lost a few positions because the drivers passed on soft,” says the Dutchman. “That of course made it a little more difficult.”
But Red Bull knew that the soft tires wouldn’t stand a chance over the distance. His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase kept telling him that: “I told you, let it come to you,” he told him over the radio.
Verstappen himself says that the soft tires were not an option for him: “No, not at all,” he waves. “I was very surprised when I saw it. Of course they flew in the first few laps, but I said: OK, see you in a few laps.”
Bad start and safety car trouble
The fact that he only came out of the first round in fifth place didn’t faze him. What bothered him was that the safety car came out three times and disrupted his race to catch up. On the one hand, every neutralized lap helped the drivers on soft tires, but on the other hand, Red Bull was unable to exploit its advantages in terms of tire wear.
“The safety car and the relatively bad start made our strategy somewhat absurd,” says Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko in an interview with “Sky”. “Yes, that didn’t play into our hands,” says Verstappen himself.
He was also on the verge of overtaking George Russell when the safety car came out again and he had to stay behind the Mercedes. “I lost a lot of time because he didn’t have any front tires in the fast corners,” he says.
Verstappen really wanted the win
The Dutchman really wanted to get past Piastri in order to snatch victory. In addition, he was also slowed down by his race engineer: “We have to watch our left front tire because we’re starting to see some damage on the surface,” he radioed in his ear.
Verstappen’s answer: “I know, I’m trying, but Piastri is moving away.” But Lambiase replied: “Forget Piastri, we have to finish.”
Because that was the main task in the sprint on Saturday: to bag the necessary points to make the title perfect. Verstappen also sees it that way in retrospect. “It was a shame, but it was just a matter of making sure we made it clear today. That would be nice for tomorrow,” he says.
No chance against McLaren
His World Cup title was actually mathematically certain after Sergio Perez’s retirement at the latest. Of course he was aware of that in the car: “Yes, of course I saw that, but I was focused on winning the race,” he says.
“He wanted to win,” confirms Marko, “but he saw that the safety car was affecting our strategy and he also saw that Piastri was pulling away at the front.” The Austrian admits: “Well, we wouldn’t have had a chance against Piastri in this situation.”
Verstappen also says that the pace compared to McLaren was okay in the end, “but I would have just needed a few more laps to see what the tire wear would do.”
In the end, Max Verstappen lost the sprint against McLaren, but he won the most important thing: world title number three.