Verstappen ‘overcomes difficult moments’ with Austrian GP win
Max Verstappen says hi💧s surprise Austrian Grand Prix victory has seen him through his tough start to the 2018 Formula 1 campaign for Red Bull.
The Dutch driver had been involved in six high-profile incidents in the opening s⭕ix rounds this year w🧸hich saw his driving come under fire from the media.
Max Verstappen says his surprise Austrian Grand P💜rix victory has seen him through his tough start to the 2018 Formula 1 campaign for Re🃏d Bull.
The Dutch driver had been🤪 involved in six high-profile incidents in the opening six rou♓nds this year which saw his driving come under fire from the media.
Verstappen has been eager to insist he hasn’t changed his approach to racing during a recent turnaround with three consecutive F1 podiums, the first time the 20-year-old achieved the feat in his career, culminating💖 in a first 🅺win since the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen feels the ‘difficult moments’ are over for him having produced a near-faultless charge starting from fourth on the grid, aided by pitting under the Virtual Safety Car caused by Bottas's retirement, and a vital first-lap pass on Kimi Raikkonen which saw him take the lead once Le💟wis Hamilton pitted.
“It’s just racing, sometimes you have diffi🐈cult moments,” Verstappen said. “You try to work hard, even when it’s difficult, and you overcome the situation. It’s as simple as that, it’s racing.
“It was a bit unexpected, especially after our Friday pac✨e and in the long runs. In the first stint, we could keep up well. I tried to do my own race, saw Valtteri disappearing with a problem. We made the right call when virtual safety car came out and we pitted.
“I was in the lead, I tried to do my own pace. Also from behind, there was no pressure. Daniel struggled with his tyres and Kimi was in second. I tried to manage, I could see my tyres opening up. I just had to drive around the issue. Luckily I could manage it until the end of the race𓃲.”
Verstappen has described his ope𝔍ning-lap🌟 overtake on Raikkonen as ‘hard but good racing’ as his front-right tyre collided with the Finn’s right-rear which caused him to slide wide which allowed the Red Bull driver to skate through to third place at the end of lap one.
“It was as hard racing but good racing,” he said. “Kimi’s experienced enough to handle situation well. We had a l🌸ittle touch, but I ♋think it’s also good for the sport.”
