Whereas the world champion squad’s rivals have all closed in over the course of this season, Verstappen has all the time appeared to have sufficient in hand to fend off anybody who seems on the verge of an assault.
It was a narrative repeated eventually weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, the place McLaren’s Lando Norris appeared like having the ability to threaten Verstappen in each the dash and the principle race – earlier than the lead Pink Bull was in a position to stretch its legs.
Pink Bull group boss Christian Horner says that the situations enjoying out are usually not a case of the group sandbagging to disguise its true benefit and solely pushing arduous when it wanted to.
As an alternative, it was extra about Verstappen being a grasp of managing his tempo and tyres to make sure he all the time stayed in management.
“I believe that everyone manages their tempo in another way in a race, however I believe Max has change into so good at studying a race,” defined Horner.
“He does not panic if he sees somebody taking trip of him within the center sector or no matter. That’s as a result of he is trying on the lengthy recreation.
“And I believe he is simply bought that interior confidence that he is aware of the place he’s.”
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Pictures
Christian Horner, Workforce Principal, Pink Bull Racing
Horner thinks that Verstappen is now reaping the rewards for data he gained throughout earlier seasons – even when he was being crushed by the then dominant Mercedes group.
Requested when he noticed Verstappen develop this capability to completely decide his tyre administration, Horner mentioned: “2019, I believe it was throughout that interval he actually, actually stepped it up.
“Then ’19 into ’20 to a level. Mercedes had a rocketship in ’20, however we have been nonetheless in a position to win some races that 12 months. After which clearly ’21 was huge.”
However whereas Verstappen has made successful look simple in F1, he says that top degradation races like Brazil are removed from simple to handle.
“Perhaps it seems absolutely simple from the skin, however I believe for many of each stint, Lando was matching my lap occasions,” mentioned the world champion.
“It was all the time just like the final 5 to 10 laps when it appeared like then, in fact, we had higher tyre deg. However yeah, the start of each stint, I positively needed to focus quite a bit and I couldn’t afford to make errors.
“Round right here, with the excessive deg as effectively, it’s not the best to drive. It’s not like you’ll be able to simply calm down and let the automotive simply roll into the corners with none consequence. You needed to be actually on it.”
