Chris
United States Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen has shed light on the brake issue that hampered him throughout the 56-lap race.
Verstappen rose from sixth on the grid to claim the 50th grand prix win of his career and the 15th of a dominant season.
It was far from straightforward however as he worked his way forwards in the opening stint before fending off a challenge from a fast-charging Lewis Hamilton in the final laps.
All the while, the Dutchman was dealing with a brake pedal that was not to his liking.
“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.
“I was struggling a lot with the brakes compared to yesterday, 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.”
Verstappen gained a place off the start, courtesy of George Russell, before passing Carlos Sainz for fourth on Lap 5.
He then found a way by Charles Leclerc for third in Lap 11 and eased by Hamilton for second courtesy of the undercut during the first pit stop sequence when Mercedes ran its lead driver long.
On Lap 28, Verstappen hit the lead for the first time, a position he only briefly relinquished when he took his second stop on Lap 36.
In the final stint, Hamilton rose to second courtesy of strong pace on medium tyres versus the hards for both Verstappen and Lando Norris, who’d been second, which saw the Mercedes close the gap in the run home.
Though disqualified post-race, Hamilton took the flag just two seconds back from the race winner, a result that came in stark contrast to the dominant display in Saturday’s F1 Sprint and served to highlight the struggles Verstappen endured.
“That was the only thing that we changed from yesterday,” the Red Bull driver said, referencing the brakes once more.
“That made it very difficult. I couldn’t get on top of it and brake.
“It’s very rare that I have it in F1 but today it came up and just made it a bit more difficult.
“I just couldn’t feel the brakes,” he added.
“I very easily locked the fronts and I tried to adjust it and I locked the rears.
“This is something very weird because, normally, I never really have issues with braking.
“This is just something that we need to understand why that was today because when you’re locking fronts and rears, you’re killing also your tyres.”
While difficult to manage, Verstappen claimed he was never concerned about losing the race win, despite the charging Hamilton.
“Once I was in the lead, I think the gap was okay, but with a few laps ago there were some backmarkers,” he noted.
“My tyres were not feeling that great, the hard tyre was not very good today, but I think the gap was just big enough, and not too many laps left.”
With Hamilton disqualified post-race, Verstappen official winning margin proved to be just over 10 seconds over Norris, with Sainz third.
