Max Verstappen offers Red Bull "simple" solution to avoid Spanish GP repeat

Max Verstappen talks with Helmut Marko and Christian Horner — Photo: © LAT Images

Max Verstappen - Red Bull

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Verstappen offers Red Bull "simple" solution to avoid Spanish GP repeat

Verstappen has dropped 14 points behind Lewis Hamilton

Ian Parkes

Tuesday 11 May 2021 08:08

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Max Verstappen has called on Red Bull to provide him with a faster car if he and the team are to avoid being strategically stung again by Mercedes.

The reigning constructors' champions out-thought Red Bull to land a Spanish Grand Prix triumph after Verstappen had pulled off an 'elbows out' move on Hamilton into turn one at the start to give himself the upper hand.

The two-stop plan was a repeat of Mercedes' 2019 triumph in Hungary as it left Red Bull with no card to play due to Verstappen's team-mate, Sergio Perez, being out of the equation following a poor qualifying.

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Asked as to the solution to ensure Red Bull did not fall foul of Mercedes' tactics in the future, Verstappen replied: "I just need a faster car. It’s very simple.

"Then you don’t need to get into a situation like that. That’s what we have to focus on."

Declaring himself "too slow" during the race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, the Dutch driver added: "That’s how you sum it up. There’s not much else to really discuss.

"I tried everything to manage it as well as I could, looking after tyres and stuff, but it’s just not enough when behind you they [Mercedes] are just pushing you at the rate you saw. There’s clearly a bit more pace.

"Of course, you try to keep up with it and do the best possible strategy you can, but even if we had gone for that earlier second stop, I don’t think I would have caught Lewis up after that.

"On the mediums, I was just a bit slower because for Lewis to be that close on a track like that, all the time within a second, sometimes having DRS, it just shows that there was not much I could do out there to make a difference."

Verstappen still believed finishing second was "a good result", leaving him 14 points adrift of Hamilton after four races, but with a points total that is his best in F1 after that time.

"Of course, you always want more," said Verstappen. "That always needs to be the aim. We shouldn’t be happy with second place at the moment.

"It looks good when you are leading for so long in the race but you have to also look to all the things that are happening throughout the race.

"Overall, we were just lacking a little bit of pace. It has been like this a little bit so far this season where it seems like qualifying, we are quite competitive, but in the race struggling a little bit more."