"I would have been very happy" - Max Verstappen's frustration after Jeddah confuses former F1 world champion

Max Verstappen's frustration after finishing second in the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP has confused former F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

The Red Bull driver was forced to start the race from P15 but made his way through the field to finish P2. However, with Verstappen's teammate winning the race, the gap at the top of the standings was cut to only one point between the two teammates.

After the race, Verstappen admitted to having a sense of frustration, as he could have won the race if not for reliability issues on Saturday. Fittipaldi, though, found Verstappen's frustration a bit confusing, as P2 was still a great result and that there are still plenty of points on the table still to play for. He told Motorsport.com:

"Every athlete has their own feelings after a race, but if I had finished second there after the race to have started from the back of the grid, I would have been very happy. Because there is always the next race, and, you know, you have a new chance to win there. And they are still good points. Also, don't forget how tough this job is. It is very easy to have an incident or crash there."

He added:

"There are walls everywhere, and they drive there at top speeds of 320, 340 kilometers per hour, on the same type of track as Monaco! It's a tough race. So if I had been Max, I would have been extremely happy that in the end it was a trouble-free race, and I was still able to score a nice number of points by finishing second. I think the team did a good job. Yes, there was a problem in qualifying, but he has a whole team working hard for him, and, I think, given the circumstances, he drove a fantastic race.”

---

Tensions between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez?

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are arguably going to contest the 2023 championship.

While Red Bull have tended to lean towards Max Verstappen in terms of preference and the Dutch driver has shown a tremendous performance level, the team might adopt a hands-off approach this year.

Even team boss Christian Horner has said that the team will let the two drivers battle it out among themselves to let the better driver come out on top. If that leads to tension between the two Red Bull teammates remains to be seen, though.