Max Verstappen said his sprint race victory at Interlagos today involved a lot of backing off to look after his tyres.
The Red Bull driver took the lead from pole-winner Lando Norris and led every lap of the way. But he said he was nursing his soft tyres from the moment he left the team’s garage to ensure they went the distance.“There is not one lap that I pushed flat out,” said Verstappen. “You can’t, it’s impossible.”
He said last year’s sprint race at Interlagos showed the optimum strategy was to run the soft tyres but treat them carefully.
“For 24 laps around here, it’s all about tyre management,” he said. “It’s just incredibly difficult around here.
“Last year we were struggling a lot with that already in the sprint race and that’s why it was a bit careful. Luckily it worked out.
“The whole race the tyres don’t feel particularly great around here. But with the management we did, I think it worked out and we won the race.”
Verstappen and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase discussed how hard he could afford to push around the track’s quick corners throughout the race. Lando Norris, who finished second, closed on him at one point but dropped back at the end, finishing almost five seconds behind.
“Like I said, it’s all about management, and at one point of the race it looked like Lando was catching a bit,” Verstappen explained. “Then I had a better feeling with the car again and I could look after the tyres a bit better and then I could pull away again at the end. So it was close.
“Tomorrow we have pit stops in the race, so you never know what’s going to happen,” he added.
Verstappen put himself on course for victory with a rapid start which moved him ahead of pole-winner Norris.
“I think the initial getaway wasn’t that fantastic,” said Verstappen. “My launch wasn’t very good.
“But then the second bit was very strong and I could get alongside so that definitely helped of course in the beginning of the race.”
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MichaelN
4th November 2023, 20:13
Why does F1 want this? What’s the point of spending 100+ million on a car when you have to fit it with the worst possible tyres for race cars… It’s so silly. Nobody comes out of this looking good. Not the teams, not the sport, not Pirelli.
Billy Rae Flop
4th November 2023, 20:44
I keep saying this, it’s not the pinnacle of Motorsports with one of the worst tyres. Relatively speaking even drifting has better tyres
Nick T.
5th November 2023, 0:53
It’s absurd they’re not given more tires, especially for the Sprint shootouts (or enough additional if they are). And with Alonso suffering two sets lost (both of which weren’t his fault), you have to imagine he’ll be in tire trouble for the race. Bringing one or two less sets of tires for carbon savings is just absurd. It’s especially absurd because they race in China, which is so bad on emissions they have a single company that emits more CO2 than the entire US.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
4th November 2023, 20:29
“sprint” race
Billy Rae Flop
4th November 2023, 20:46
So could Norris have won on medium tyres?
Nick T.
5th November 2023, 0:54
No. They weren’t working well on the cars that tried that route.
Jeffrey Powell
4th November 2023, 22:15
So as Max said he wasn’t really driving at anything like maximum pace, so not really a race more of an economy run, which maybe considered acceptable in the current format of F1 , but we’re the rest doing the same, were they making an effort to catch ,or were they really just playing a game. Fortunately I drifted off after a few laps and had to go on to Racefanto see the result , although I had already dreamt it. Strange A.!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
4th November 2023, 22:19
We could have been watching a qualifying session, building up to the climax of the weekend tomorrow.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
4th November 2023, 23:16
Meh. kind of a dud. Praying for rain, cause its just too predictable at this point.
Billy (@roobyroo)
5th November 2023, 6:53
To paraphrase an old F1 driver, the winner is the first across the finish line in the slowest possible time.
Much of F1 history hasn’t been about being able to go flat out all the time but about managing deficits for the optimum performance for best results and this is where the skill of the driver comes into play in managing those fine margins.
As yesterday showed, whilst the mediums may have been more durable they weren’t the best tyre for performance in the race.
MichaelN
5th November 2023, 9:52
This is true, but it was when F1 was at its peak popularity (according to its own, hard to verify, numbers) and attracted a number of manufacturers they can now only dream about.
baasbas
5th November 2023, 12:55
Norris had pace, but you can’t pit in the sprint. Verstappen just had to drive as slow as he could get away with, knowing Norris will suffer more degradation. In a normal race you have more laps so you can do something with the tires. Like maybe use 2 sets of mediums or even a hard and push that tire, instead of tiptoeing on a set of softs. It could offset the higher degradation of the McLaren and at least give an option to try something. But the sprint format doesn’t allow it.
baasbas
5th November 2023, 12:57
No edit button.. didn’t mean to say 2 sets of mediums because we need different compounds as per the rules