Max Verstappen overcame a huge hurdle on his way to his 50th win this weekend. A race weekend that had started off with the setback of having his time deleted in Q3 was fine-tuned to perfection with his wizardry in the RB19.
“Mad Max” had to deal with a lot more than Lewis Hamilton’s attacking W14. Max had a crucial issue in his car throughout the race, which, if not managed properly, could have serious implications. But the king he is, Verstappen ultimately overcame this issue en route to his latest victory.
Verstappen’s brake nightmare in US GP win
People were baffled about what’s so wrong in his car that Max Verstappen had a nightmarish US GP. Well, it turn out that the RB19 was suffering from brake problems in the entire race making it much more harder for Max Verstappen to fight back or use his skillful maneuvers in the race.
Verstappen reported an issue in braking mid-race during a radio message to Gianpiero Lambiase, which persisted without improvements and Hamilton was almost about to close in on him by the end of the race.
“We had changed the brake pads and somehow they deteriorated rapidly during the race,” Helmut Marko replied while commenting about Max’s problems during the US GP.
“That didn’t give him the right feeling. Sometimes he braked predominantly with the front of the car, sometimes predominantly with the rear. It made it very difficult for him to drive at the limit, but he worked around those problems masterfully.”
Helmut Marko reveals Max Verstappen’s masterplan
Furthermore, Marko added that this race was one of the toughest races for Max the entire season, “We told him to grab one at the start and then take them one by one. From that perspective, we succeeded, but it was certainly the most difficult race of the year.”
It was a part of Max’s strategy to cope up for the penalty during qualifying which didn’t let him stay on the front row for Sunday’s race. Max Verstappen was joking earlier about track issues and challenging drivers to take a shot with RB19, but it seems that the triple champion fell prey to track limits himself. Max Verstappen certainly had a great race and it showed his masterclass when it comes to F1.
The way he overtook drivers turn by turn not giving them chances to fight back with the better traction of his RB19 reminded every single F1 fan about the reason why he was able to win 3 titles in a row.
What do you think about the post race penalties which snatched away a well deserved podium from both drivers? Make sure to let us know in the comments.
