Verstappen: The starts were very important today

Max Verstappen won the race in Brazil. The Red Bull driver started from pole position and added another win to his account for the 2023 F1 season. According to Verstappen, the starts in today’s race were the key to his success.

Verstappen had an excellent reaction at the first start of the race. The three-time world champion defended first position on the approach to the Senna-S bends. At the same time, in the rear part of the column, there was an incident, because of which a red flag was unfurled

The race in Brazil was restarted after nearly half an hour. Verstappen once again drove excellently and retained the first place. Then he was bothered for a bit by Lando Norris (McLaren). However, Max picked up the pace and broke away from his rival.

Like most of the races this year, Verstappen was in a league of his own and totally controlled the race in Brazil. The Red Bull driver recorded his second success at the Interlagos circuit after the one in 2019. In addition, the Dutchman took his 17th success of the season, continuing to improve his own record.

Max indicated that the two starts were the key to his success.

“The starts were very important today. Fortunately, we did very well in both,” said Verstappen. “After that, the whole race was about tire management. We were good with every type of tire, especially in the medium stint. We were very strong there and managed to make a little difference,” added the Red Bull driver. Verstappen remained as focused as possible throughout the race.

“Everything looked pretty good. Because of the high temperatures, you are constantly adjusting the car, so the focus always has to be in place, but luckily today it worked out well,” said Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver is already looking ahead to the next start in Las Vegas. “We will be very different from now. This looks like a great street track that will be full of surprises,” concluded Max Verstappen.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez started ninth and finished fourth. The Mexican fought a contentious battle with Fernando Alonso, which he eventually lost.

“He got it back. I ran out of energy and he got it back. It was a good, fair race, as it always is with Fernando. It is very nice to compete against him. To be honest, today I lost in a simple way. I can’t help but admit that he did a great job,” Perez said. The Red Bull driver described the weekend in Brazil as “good” despite missing out on the podium today.

Yeah, the whole weekend was really good. We were just unlucky with the yellow flag on Friday. Otherwise, I think we should have been much higher in the standings,” added Sergio Perez.