Red Bull could conceivably have the fourth-fastest car on the grid this season and yet Max Verstappen has a P2, P3 and P4 finish to his name thus far.
Verstappen benefitted from his superiority in the wet to finish within a whisker of beating Lando Norris at the Australian Grand Prix and McLaren’s underperformance during Sprint Race qualifying in China earned him six points on Saturday.
Oscar Piastri took pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix and led from start to finish ahead of Norris while Verstappen had to settle for best of the rest outside of the podium positions.
Verstappen lamented how difficult this year’s Red Bull is to drive by suggesting new teammate Liam Lawson would be better off at Racing Bulls given that it looks to have a much larger operating window.
Lawson was heard complaining on the team radio immediately after the race as he missed out on a top 10 finish despite three cars in front of him being disqualified.
Martin Brundle spotted ‘intriguing’ point in Max Verstappen’s lap times after the Chinese Grand Prix
Martin Brundle was speaking alongside David Croft on Sky Sports F1 (23/3 8:52 am) after the race in Shanghai.
Reflecting on the race waiting for the podium ceremony to begin, Brundle said: “Max’s last lap, a 1:35.4, his fastest lap of the Grand Prix, comfortably faster than anybody else at the end of the race.
“It’s intriguing isn’t it that Max’s pace sort of came alive in the last third of the race really.”
Croft replied: “Did he just have more tyre life than others? Was, as you suggested in commentary the Red Bull handling better on less fuel?
“Was he struggling in the early stages because he was kind of anonymous after losing a couple of places at the start, but he did get right in there to take that fourth place.”
Verstappen immediately lost out to Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on the first lap in a rare instance where he didn’t nail his race start.
Hamilton was struggling throughout the race and after two-stopping, he never had the pace to catch his old championship rival.
Leclerc couldn’t hold off Verstappen in the closing stages after a brilliant battle and as the Dutchman’s car got lighter, it appeared to become much easier to drive.
Max Verstappen admits ‘tough’ opening stint at the Chinese Grand Prix
Verstappen must be used to running races at his own pace and still coming out on top but he doesn’t have that luxury this season.
He looked after his tyres as well as any of his rivals at the front of the grid and matched their one-stop strategies before pouncing towards the end of the race.
There was nothing more he could have done throughout the race and if the Grand Prix had been a few laps longer he would have ended up on the podium after Norris’ brake failure.
Speaking to the press after the race, Verstappen said: “Today the beginning of the race was quite tough on mediums.
“We set out to do our pace, which was a fair bit slower than the cars around us as we were working to try not to destroy our tyres.
“On the hard tyre, it was a tough beginning, but on the second stint the performance was a lot more promising and we were seeing a lot more pace in the car.
“The last 19 laps were more positive and better than expected as we were having equal lap times to the front runners.
“We were handling the car better and had a lot more grip on the tyres, so everything looked more hopeful and it was more fun to drive.”
