Max Verstappen says his Belgian Grand Prix weekend was positive because he managed to extend his championship lead, despite a grid penalty.
Red Bull took a new internal combustion engine (ICE) on Verstappen’s car at Spa-Francorchamps, with the track traditionally much better for overtaking than many other venues. Although he struggled to make significant headway after the opening few laps, Verstappen managed to get ahead of Lando Norris through strategy to cross the line fifth, being promoted to fourth by George Russell’s post-race disqualification.
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“The balance of the car wasn’t too bad in the first few laps, but of course I ran a lot in traffic, which probably also didn’t help,” Verstappen said. “But yeah, we were just not faster than the cars around us, and then you just get stuck in that DRS train.
“I think as a team we maximized the performance. Naturally, if you start P1 with the pace that we had, I think you’re fighting for the win, regardless. But starting P11, I knew that it was always going to be a damage limitation race.
“Of course, looking at the championship, it was still a positive day. I extended my lead, where it could have also easily been calculating losses. So from that side it’s a positive day.”
Originally starting the race seven places behind Norris, Verstappen admits his main focus was on the McLaren driver who is his closest championship challenger, albeit over 70 points adrift.
“I think he didn’t have the best first lap, I don’t know what happened there. But yeah, for me that is what I look at, naturally.
“A lot of the other guys, they’ve done great races, but they’re quite far behind in the championship. And for me, it’s with the car that at the moment probably is not the quickest in the race. It’s about just limiting the damage and trying to be as close as I can be every single time.
“That’s what we have been doing lately. And naturally, I would just hope that we can find a little bit more performance because it will make our lives a bit easier in the race.”
Verstappen finished ahead of teammate Sergio Perez – who faded from second on the grid to be classified seventh – and had a short spell behind him, but doesn’t think Red Bull should have overly impacted Perez’s race to help the championship leader’s recovery.
“No, I mean, I don’t think it’s fair on him, because he’s doing his own race as well,” said Verstappen. “So, I think there we did the right thing. I don’t think that would have mattered a lot in my race.”