Max Verstappen has revealed that the win in Formula 1‘s United States Grand Prix was out of reach as he “never had the pace to attack” with Red Bull’s car in the race.
Having converted pole position into the win in the Sprint, Verstappen was viewed as a contender to triumph in the main event at Austin as he lined up on the front row.
The Dutchman’s threat didn’t materialise, however, as Red Bull’s encouraging speed with the upgrades it introduced in Austin was non-existent in the 56-lap encounter.
Verstappen was unable to rival the lap times of the Ferraris ahead once the pit stops were conducted, while championship rival Lando Norris then passed him late on.
But Norris completed the overtake outside track limits at Turn 12, which landed him a five-second time penalty and handed the last spot on the podium to Verstappen.
McLaren was incensed by the stewards’ decision to penalise Norris, arguing that its driver had been made to exit the track because Verstappen had pushed him wide.
Verstappen, though, has contended that struggles with understeer and brake problems on his RB20 had an impact on how he was able to battle other cars in the race.
“Yeah, for me, of course, it was quite a difficult race,” Verstappen said.
“I never really had the pace to attack. So a bit different compared to yesterday. Yeah, just understeering a lot, struggling under braking.
“So that made the defending quite difficult because every time if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really brake that late.
“It was a tough battle. I tried everything I could, of course, to keep him behind. And of course, at the end, to be on the podium is still, I think, for us, a great result.”
Verstappen admits COTA win was impossible
Verstappen maintained second place at the start – albeit behind Charles Leclerc rather than polesitter Norris – but dropped close to 10 seconds behind in the first stint.
The reigning F1 champion has admitted that he acknowledged within the opening laps that replicating his earlier win in the Sprint was going to be an impossible task.
“I think today wasn’t the best race for us compared to yesterday, for example,” he expanded. “Just struggling for balance, for grip.
“Couldn’t really brake, rotate the car. So yeah, quite quickly onwards, I realised that we’re not going to win the race.
“But just tried to do my own race. I think we did the best strategy we could as a team. And then it was just surviving to the end.
“And then, of course, Lando arrived. We had some really good battles, honestly. It was really a lot of fun. But yeah, overall, it was still quite a tough race for me.”
READ MORE: Red Bull explains reason behind struggles in F1 US GP race
