“I cannot go into detail but”– Max Verstappen reveals that the tyre management of his team has unlocked the added speed to his car.
Max Verstappen is the new flying dutchman, as he is cruising past his rivals with ease, and now looks favourite to win the championship with his 18 points lead in the standings.
When asked about the secret to his car’s surged pace, the Dutch race driver without getting into the intricacies revealed that it’s all about the tyres.
“It was important to have a good start,” Verstappen told RacingNews365.com. “I think that the first stint was all about managing the tyres and I could see that the pace was quite strong while looking after the tyres, which has sometimes been a bit different in previous races.
“So I think we’ve worked quite hard to try and make that better, and I think today that was very good. When we stopped to go to the hards, that was a really enjoyable stint.”
Can’t tell everything
A follow-up question to Verstappen enquired how his team has improved the tyre management, and he hesitated to give details publically but revealed it at a surface level.
“Of course I cannot go into detail but it’s all about making sure that you have the tyres until the end,” Verstappen added. “I think in Barcelona we just didn’t have it. Today, they couldn’t keep up with me in terms of pace.
“If you have that little bit extra pace, you can manage your lap times a bit more and that just helps these tyres a lot to the end because they’re super-sensitive in terms of sliding, locking, whatever. They overheat super quick, so it’s all about management at the end.”
Verstappen would be vying against Lewis Hamilton at the same venue, with an approach to further extend his lead.
