Red Bull’s Max Verstappen feels “positive” going into the second half of the 2024 season with a 78-point championship lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen began the race from 11th on the grid but executed a two-stop strategy to undercut Norris, as the pair finished fourth and fifth respectively which saw the reigning three-time champion extend his title lead by two more points.
With ten races left, Verstappen now heads into the summer break feeling “positive” about his chances at a fourth straight title, following his two-stop strategy but he felt that he could of done the tyre strategy differently.
“I think we did everything right with the strategy today and I had a good clean start. I was in the DRS train and it was difficult to pass, but I think strategy wise we did everything that we could to the limit.
“It was tough to make it with two mediums and a hard tyre and we could potentially have taken more position if we started with the hard tyre, but I think we did a good job and maximised our result today.”
Verstappen in 2022 won from 14th on the grid so some fans had expectations of a similar recovery, yet the 26 year-old knew that wasn’t possible this time round due to tougher opposition.
“It wasn’t realistic to start P11 and fly to the front, so I am overall happy with our performance.”
Verstappen now is “looking forward” to having a “summer break and having a bit of time to relax,” but is eager to coming back “better and faster” if Red Bull can “find solutions” to deal with McLaren’s surgent form.
The first race after the summer break at Zandvoort, Netherlands, is Verstappen’s home event – despite having been born in Belgium, but is wary that he won’t have it easy on his own turf after dominating the three previous visits.
“It will be a tough battle and it will be all about tyre management, but it will be great to be in front of my home crowd again.”
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