"A race like this is incredibly satisfying" - Max Verstappen has his sights set on Ferrari and aims to 'keep hunting them down’

Max Verstappen feels the Miami GP result was “incredibly satisfying” after suffering a poor build-up to the weekend. The Dutchman faced brake issues earlier which cost him running time in FP2 on Friday and compromised a smooth build-up to the weekend.

Describing his Miami GP race and commenting on his result, the reigning champion said:

“I mean also just with the limited amount of running we had all weekend, to have a race like this is incredibly satisfying. I really think we had good pace on the medium tyre and I basically also made the race because that is where I opened up my gap. Once we got on the hard tyres, we were evenly matched, we were always trading lap times and then I was of course not very happy when the safety car came out. And of course these things happen, you cannot do anything about it. I survived a few attacks from him (Leclerc), just because my tyres were very cold initially I couldn’t really get them up to temperature like I wanted to. But once they went up to temperature, I think we had really good pace again.”

Qualifying third on the grid, the Dutchman grabbed the lead in the race at Lap 9 and was able to manage the rest of the race with effective tire management, with Charles Leclerc in his rear view.

Max Verstappen admitted disliking the safety car period, which had reduced the gap between him and his rival significantly. However, once his tires warmed up again, the reigning champion was able to clinch the victory with ease despite his rival pressuring him in the closing stages of the race. The Monegasque Ferrari driver admitted to being on the backfoot in the race in terms of tire management.

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Max Verstappen revealed enjoying hunting the Ferraris down

The Dutchman believes that if it weren’t for their retirements in Bahrain and Australia, they would have had a smoother run in the championship. Winning every race that he has completed in 2022, Max Verstappen admitted to enjoying hunting down Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for another title.

Commenting on the championship and the hunt for the lead, the Dutchman said:

“Its been really good, we are closing the gap. It is a shame of course (if it werent) for our retirements, it could have been a lot better already in the championship. But we’ll keep hunting them down.”

The 2021 world champion is now 19 points adrift of Leclerc in the driver’s championship after two consecutive victories. However, the Red Bull F1 team are six points adrift off Ferrari, who lead the constructor’s championship. If Ferrari don’t manage to stop Red Bull or their champion from taking the top step of the podium in Barcelona, the championship lead could change hands.