Verstappen: Nice to have a good clean race

The Red Bull driver damaged his front wing when he collided with the Williams of Lance Stroll, but he soldiered on with his pace hardly affected and then fended off a late race charge from the Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari to claim third place.

Verstappen spoke on the podium and during the post-race press conference:

We can see the front wing damage on your car you picked up after the Safety Car, but fighting spirit, P5 to P3, that’s a good day at the office.
Max Verstappen: Absolutely. The car was working really well. As you know, it’s just really hard to pass, We just stayed close to everyone in front of us and we got the luck with Kimi retiring but then the degradation of the tyres went really well, they were handling really well, so I think that gave us third position today.

You could always take the challenge, you’re a fighter to the end. Did you think after the Virtual Safety Car you had a chance of catching Bottas?
MV: No, I think he was a bit too far away, but of course I had to keep pushing, because I had Sebastian behind me. I just wanted to see how my front wing was holding on, but it seemed alright. It doesn’t look as nice but it’s alright.

We heard Daniel on the radio saying he was faster than you at the beginning of the race. Did you know that, did the team tell you anything about it and do you have an explanation for why you were so much faster afterwards than Daniel was?
MV: I was just controlling my pace. Yeah. I mean I was stuck behind Kimi. I can’t drive over him. So, yeah, I was just driving to what I think was best for the tyres and yeah… You could see it all the time. At the end of the two stints I was very quick, so yeah. I guess that’s always the case. If you see the guy ahead is stuck and you are catching up, you’re just like ‘aw, guys I’m faster’. I would probably have said exactly the same thing.

The front wing damage, you mentioned you were able to solve the front wing damage with some tools. How much of that was adjusting stuff within the car, how much was adjusting your driving style, and did you think that it was going to have a bigger impact than it did?
MV: Initially I thought so but then I kept going and yeah, I felt a bit more understeer in Turn Three and Nine, and maybe braking a bit deeper into hairpins but, yeah, it was not too bad to be honest. I opened a bit with some tools and all good. It was a little bit slower but I don’t think it affected me too much.

Very long first stint for you today...
MV: Yup. The tyres just hold on better. I guess also the tarmac plays a role in this but yup, we saw that already in winter testing as well.

How much does this race feel like it is a turning point in your season?
MV: Feels nice to be on the podium and nice to have a good clean race. Hopefully we can just work from here and score a lot of good results.