Max Verstappen explained how the top speed edge he held from Red Bull’s rear wing choice helped him pip Lando Norris in Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Verstappen had looked on course to cruise to a comfortable win from pole position when he retained the lead at the start and opened up an eight-second advantage.
However, a recurrence of the balance issues he had experienced with his RB20 throughout practice on the Hard compound saw Norris mount a charge on first place.
Norris closed to within DRS range but ended up seven-tenths short at the chequered flag, prompting him to rue requiring “one or two more laps” to pass the Red Bull.
But Verstappen appeared to dispute that claim, citing how Red Bull’s less loaded rear-wing configuration was giving him a crucial upper hand in the overtaking zones.
Asked how concerned he was about Norris in the closing stages, Verstappen said: “Well, I mean, as soon as it was like half a second a lap, I was like, that’s a lot.
“But at the other end, you can’t do anything about it, so I was just trying to do my pace. You cannot try and force half a second out of it when you don’t have the balance.
“So I was trying to really not make mistakes, really try to drive around the balance issues that I had and be quick on the straight.
“So that’s basically what I think helped me a bit at the end also.
“But with the rear wing that we had, we’re quite fast on the straight. And yeah, that probably helped a bit in the last few laps to defend.”
Verstappen could have lost the win even without Norris even dispatching him on track had the Dutchman been deemed to exceed track limits on one more occasion.
The triple World Champion has elucidated that he adhered to a warning on the pit wall to leave added margin until he had to re-engage amid Norris’ closing McLaren.
“Yeah, I mean, they updated me, of course, with the track limits,” Verstappen recalled. “Yeah, to just be a bit more careful from that point onwards.
“But the problem was also, I guess, in the beginning I was understeering a lot on the Medium and that was pushing me a bit off sometimes if I missed the apex.
“So after that, on the Hard tyres also, just leaving a bit more margin.
“Of course, the last few laps when Lando was catching it was a bit harder, because then I had to naturally really use the track as much as I could.
“But we stayed within the lines. But definitely, it does require a bit more focus, of course, so every exit you have to be really sure what you’re doing.”
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