Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he had little to no performance left in his Pirelli tyres during the final laps of the United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen was being hunted by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for the race lead, having made both of his pit stops a handful of laps before Hamilton.
On fresher tyres, Hamilton was able to close the gap to his championship rival, but couldn’t pass Verstappen, allowing the Red Bull driver to take the win and extend his championship advantage to 12 points.
“The whole race, the pressure was on, not knowing how quick Lewis was going to get you,” Verstappen said
“We went very aggressive on the first stop after losing the lead at the start then again in the middle stint Lewis was within that undercut range so we had to respond, go early again.”
Switching to the Hard tyres, Verstappen was forced to complete 26 laps for his final stint.
As the laps wore on, Verstappen began to lap cars with more difficulty, and was stuck behind the Haas of Mick Schumacher ahead of the final tour, which initially cost him lap time.
However, Verstappen believes the loss of time was stabilised by the DRS he received along the start/finish straight.
“The last stint was very long, in this heat especially,” Verstappen said. “We managed to hang on at the end, just enough within the tyres to push.
“With two laps to go I had the Haas in front of me, going into the lasts sector he was in front, and especially with worn tyres it is not easy to follow.
“Luckily then he gave me that DRS so whatever I lost I think it stabilised a bit because of that DRS.
“The last lap was all about trying to have a good first sector and beginning of the second sector but it wasn’t easy as the tyres were really finished, but yeah, incredible to win here.”
