Verstappen: 'Would have won if Russell had not made pit stop'.

F1 News

4 September 2022 at 17:18
  • GPblog.com

For Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, the Dutch Grand Prix was a bit of a shift in strategy. A virtual safety car and safety car had to be anticipated, but in the end they managed to keep a cool head at the Austrian pit wall and make the right decisions. Verstappen is happy with his tenth win of the season in the premier class of motor sport.

"When you look at the whole weekend of course its been pretty incredible. Something to do with my dads helmet makes it more special. I think everything worked out well. We stayed calm and no confusion on the radio. They know what to do," Verstappen told Sky Sports of the weekend's poor start and the situations with the virtual safety car and safety car.

On Viaplay, the Dutchman went on to say: "We couldn't do our strategy from the start because of that. We had to adjust that a bit. On the harder compounds we had a bit harder to find speed against the Mercedes, but on the softs at the end it just looked good again."

According to Verstappen, he would have won regardless of what Mercedes had done with the strategy in the closing stages, he told the British cameras. "I would have got them both [Hamilton and Russell] had they stayed on the medium. So, it was a smart call to pit as well [for Russell]"