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Max Verstappen cherished his weekend at the Imola GP, where his team was able to score the maximum possible result. The Dutchman felt being uninvolved in track drama helped them focus on their race and maximize their potential.
Securing a grand slam with pole position, race win while leading every lap, and setting the fastest lap, the Dutchman controlled the race from start to finish. While his rival Charles Leclerc made an error that cost him a huge amount of points, Verstappen was able to avoid getting involved in any drama and control the race throughout.
Explaining their reasons behind such a good result, Max Verstappen said:
“You know, we didn’t really make any mistakes, I think we made the right calls with switching from the inters to the slicks, and from there onwards we just controlled the race. And of course, it seemed probably easy on the TV, but you still have to be focused, especially also with backmarkers. It’s easy when you’re off-line to lock up or go through a wet patch and go off track. So yeah, just manage that… Passing back markers. Some of them stayed on the dry line, and I had to pass them on the wet patches. That wasn’t amazing, but it is what it is. I mean, just have to deal with it. But again, it’s easy to then go off the track.”
Despite a poor start to the season, Max Verstappen praised the team's efforts, saying:
“Melbourne wasn’t great for us. And the start of the season in general wasn’t amazing. So we needed a good weekend. I didn’t expect it to be like this, but of course, when you have a weekend, at the end of the day, like this, that’s incredible. I mean, a one-two for the team, but also maximum points scored. And also, the way I think we handled the race.”
According to the Dutchman, it was easy to make errors and get involved in a tangle with the back-markers. The reigning champion believes a race sans mistakes made it easy for them to secure the much-needed points haul.
Max Verstappen believes his car functioned well at Imola GP
The Red Bull champion believes his car was much better at the Imola GP compared to their last race in Australia. He claimed to have good pace all weekend long, including in the sprint race, where he was able to manage his tires much better than the previous weekend.
Describing his car's performance at Imola, Max Verstappen said:
“The car was handling really well. Of course, we saw that yesterday already in Sprint Qualifying that we had good pace in the car. And we could look after our tyres probably quite nicely. So, yeah, a very positive weekend.”
The current result has helped him close the gap down to his Ferrari rival to 26 points in the drivers’ standings, while his team is now 11 points behind Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. The Dutchman has now won every race he has finished in 2022, while Leclerc has won two out of the four races he has completed.
