Valtteri Bottas had a tire advantage over Max Verstappen at the start of the sprint qualifying at Interlagos. The Mercedes driver rode the sprint race on the softest compound, Verstappen on the yellow mediums. The Dutchman explains why he had no chance to defend the lead after his ‘pole position’.
“We couldn’t do very much. When I saw that he (Bottas, ed.) started on the soft tires, I knew it would be a tough task,” Verstappen said after the sprint race. Sky Sports. “The sun suddenly disappeared over the circuit, causing the temperature of the asphalt to drop and that was clearly in favor of the soft tires.”
This was not the only problem for the Dutchman. “In hindsight we could have gone for the softs, but I also lost my gear sync. When switching, this cost me some lap time while you want to switch without any problems at the start. We have to look at how this came about.”
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Verstappen satisfied with Red Bull’s speed
Verstappen was happy with his speed after the mediocre start. “I was able to close the gap with Valtteri, but after that it became very difficult to follow. Everything overheats quite quickly, so I sometimes had to take a little more distance. The circuit here is also quite tough on the tires. In the end I still have two scored points.”
According to the Red Bull driver, it will not be easy on Sunday during the race, although Verstappen remains positive. “It looked a bit disturbing, but our pace is fine. Tomorrow will be a completely different story, the temperature of the asphalt is almost twice as high, then everything will be a little different.”
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