Despite starting from P1 on Saturday's F1 sprint race, Red Bull's Max Verstappen succumbed to Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, which warranted an explanation from the Dutch star.
Bottas started the race with soft tires, while Verstappen and his team opted to utilize medium tires, a strategy not ending as an effective one.
Via F1
“We started on the medium tire, also I think the track [temperature] dropped a bit more than we would have liked, and then besides that, I somehow lost all the gear sync so my start was already not as amazing on these tires. But when we upshifted, we had a terrible shift. All in all, that didn’t work out for me.”
“Then, of course, I dropped to third on the first lap but after that I think the pace was fine but you can’t overtake around here; the tyres very quickly overheat and then you’re stuck. Especially when the cars are closely matched on pace, there’s not much you can do in the Sprint without a pitstop so I just sat behind, basically.”
For a moment, Verstappen fell to third behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz but managed to regain P2 and a front-row position for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Despite garnering 5th at the sprint, Lewis Hamilton drops to 10th place on the grid for the race itself, following a five-place penalty for an engine change. Verstappen seemed calm amid the sprint loss and looks to extend his advantage in the F1 driver's championship, holding a 19-point lead over Hamilton with just four races to go.
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