Max Verstappen suspects Lando Norris would have been a menace in yesterday’s Miami Grand Prix even when the Security Automobile hadn’t helped him.
Norris took the lead of the race by delaying his pit cease till later than his rivals. He lucked in when the Security Automobile was deployed, permitting him to make his pit cease and rejoin on the entrance of the sector forward of Verstappen.
Nevertheless Norris had gained on Verstappen whereas lapping on the medium tyre compound earlier within the race.
“I didn’t actually see him at first as a result of I used to be extra centered on Oscar [Piastri] behind and the Ferraris,” Verstappen defined. “However then I boxed and I heard the tempo that he was doing on the used Mediums.
“I used to be like, ‘I imply, that’s fairly insane’. I’d have by no means been ready to take action.
“So I knew even when there wouldn’t have been a Security Automobile that when he would come out on contemporary tyres that I’d have needed to push on rather a lot to have the ability to maintain him behind.”
Though the Security Automobile labored towards Verstappen, he believes he would nonetheless have had an opportunity to win if Norris’ automotive hadn’t been so fast.
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“The Security Automobile got here [and] it’s racing: Generally it really works for you, typically it really works towards you.
“Even with that Security Automobile, we nonetheless had all of the alternatives to win at present, however we’re clearly not fast sufficient after that Security Automobile. As soon as I realised that, I simply settled in and tried to come back dwelling in second.”
Norris “was simply miles sooner on the finish,” admitted Verstappen, who completed the race over seven seconds behind the McLaren.
Verstappen mentioned he struggled with an absence of grip. “I used to be simply fairly poor, I’d say, within the race,” he mentioned. “But additionally, I by no means actually felt comfy the entire weekend with it. I believe on the medium it was nonetheless okay-ish, however on the onerous it was fairly a catastrophe.
“Simply low grip, very difficult stability within the low-speed [corners]. I couldn’t actually lean on the rear whereas within the high-speed I used to be understeering rather a lot.
“When you may have these two points, you can’t additionally stability it out since you’re chasing two various things. So yeah, simply driving to the grip that I had and it was not rather a lot.”
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