Max Verstappen has said ’it’s all very close’ with Red Bull’s rivals McLaren and Ferrari after a close race to P1 at a thrilling 2024 Imola GP.
The Dutchman admitted that he came close to being demoted to the second step of the podium by Lando Norris for the second race in a row. After a strong start on the Medium tyres, Verstappen struggled on the Hard tyres in the one-stop race. Worse still, he was also faced with a black-and-white flag for exceeding track limits. While he was never given a penalty after taking care in the corners, Norris reached the chequered flag a mere 0.7 seconds behind – far cry from previous races with a gap of 12-13 seconds from P2.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen admitted it felt like he was driving ‘on ice’ in the closing stages of the thrilling 2024 Imola GP;
“It was very tricky at the end, I think at the start, the mediums were good, I had very good pace there, but on the hard tyres, it seemed like they were not working on our car, I never really got them, you know, to fire up, and then, of course, the longer you do this in, the worse it gets. I was pushing flat out while being, you know, feeling on ice, it was so difficult to be consistent, but of course, very happy that we still won.
Yeah, but I think, naturally, McLaren and Ferrari, they definitely took a big step forward, and now, yeah, it’s all very close, and from our side, for sure. On the hard tyre, it wasn’t that good, so that’s something that we definitely need to analyse, and of course, the start of the weekend, you know, that has been an ongoing process.”
Looking ahead to Monaco next weekend, all eyes will be on Red Bull as they look to maintain their lead of the Drivers and Constructors Championships. However, on a track where a slight misjudgement can cause catastrophic damage, will we see a different face atop the podium?
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202405190590 /
[adrotate banner=”9″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.