Max Verstappen explained the brakes problem which had the Dutchman flustered behind the wheel during the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen took victory in Austin, his 15th of the season after 18 races. But it was not as simple as most of his triumphs this season have been, owing in part to a brakes problem he suffered in the latter stages.
It allowed Lewis Hamilton to close in on the champion in the final few laps. The Brit threatened to challenge for the win but finished 2.2 seconds behind his rival, before later being disqualified after post-race checks on his Mercedes.
But his charge certainly had Red Bull star Verstappen worried. “Mate, there brakes are so s*** compared to yesterday. What a piece of s***,” he yelled over the radio at one point.
And that was far from the only time he raised the issue with the team. On more than one occasion, when race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase attempted to relay information to his driver, Verstappen snapped back to tell him off for distracting him while he was trying to get a handle on his brakes problems.
“We had a good start. Then, the first stint, I tried to be patient but at the same time, following for so long did hurt my tyres a little,” he said after the race. “I was struggling a lot with the brakes compared to [Saturday], so I couldn’t really be that nice on them, and the tyres under braking, and just being very inconsistent.
“That basically carried on for the rest of the race where, compared to yesterday, that was just quite a big factor because I never really had a lot of confidence to be consistent on the braking.”
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko explained where the issue had come from. “We had changed the brake pads and somehow they deteriorated rapidly during the race,” the Austrian said.
