On the streets of Las Vegas, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured his sixth consecutive victory—but he had to work for it, overcoming a 5-second penalty and recovering from a clash with George Russell.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
On the opening lap Verstappen snatched the lead from pole-sitter Charles Leclerc with a questionable move that saw the Ferrari driver being pushed wide. The Dutchman had his team’s blessing to not give the position back on track, and was therefore awarded a 5-second penalty by the stewards, which he served during his first pit stop.
“It was a tough one, I tried to go for it at the start,” Verstappen explained during his post-race interview. “I think we both braked quite late and then I just ran out of grip.
“We ended up a bit wide so the stewards gave me a penalty for that. That put us a little bit on the back foot.
“I had to pass quite a few cars and of course [there was] the Safety Car again. So at that point already there was a lot going on in the race.
“I had to pass a few cars to get into the battle with them [Leclerc and teammate Sergio Pérez]. But then you could clearly see with the DRS around here it was very powerful.”
Expanding on the Turn 1 incident with Leclerc, Verstappen later added: “I braked and there was no grip. I didn’t mean to push Charles off the track but I couldn’t slow down. I kept sliding on four wheels, wide. So that’s why we had to go wide.
“At the time you are full of adrenaline and I was not happy with the decision but looking back at it, it was probably the right call.”
Verstappen also spoke about the team’s decision to not give back the position and take the penalty instead: “I think we opted to just stay ahead and then we take the five-second penalty. I don’t know what’s better in the end.
“I paid the penalty in the end, so it doesn’t matter in a way. If you go back behind you probably end up losing five seconds, so it’s pretty similar I guess in the end.”
Although he’s earned a reputation for being an outspoken critic of the fanfare around the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Verstappen conceded that the race itself was enjoyable.
“Even when you take the lead, if the guy behind would stay in the DRS, he would still have an opportunity to come back at you which I think created quite a lot of good racing here. So it was definitely a lot of fun.
“ Like I said, with the DRS as well, that helped a lot, for very good racing here. Also the low degradation, with the tarmac here, you could really push the tyres, which I think was good.
“A great crowd. I hope everyone enjoyed it a bit. We definitely did. Already excited to come back here next year and try something similar.”
