Max Verstappen believes he would have split the Mercedes drivers at Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix without the late yellow flags at Turn 12.
Verstappen ran a two-stop strategy and was gaining on the one-stopping Hamilton during the closing stages when Kevin Magnussen suffered a brake failure at the end of the back straight.
Double waved yellow flags were shown through the section and, with it presenting the best passing spot of the lap, it hampered Verstappen’s chances of making a pass.
“I couldn’t use the DRS,” said Verstappen.“Otherwise, I think we could have been second, but nevertheless still good to be on the podium.”
Verstappen also revealed that floor damage on his Red Bull RB15 restricted his prospects but was nonetheless lifted by the weekend-long performance of the package.
“Overall, we had a really good race,” outlined Verstappen.“I was just struggling with some weird oversteer in the car.
“Initially, [the team] said it was my front wing, which had a little bit of damage but after the race, I looked at the car and I was missing a big piece of my floor in front of the rear tyre, so that definitely cost me a lot of lap time.
“I don’t know when it happened but already quite quickly into the race I had this weird behaviour from the car, which I had not felt before.
“So that’s a bit unfortunate and otherwise I think we could have been stronger.
“But still, to be on the podium here after a very positive weekend in general I think was a really good achievement for us.”
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