Kelly Piquet showered all her praise for her partner Max Verstappen recently. As the Red Bull driver came from behind to finish the Jeddah race in P2, Piquet appreciated his efforts on social media. The Dutchman pulled off a stunner in the last lap after ignoring Red Bull’s orders.
The Brazilian presenter took to his Instagram to share a story about Verstappen. She posted the Dutchman driving on the last lap and crossing the finish line.
How important will that point for fastest lap turn out to be at the end of the season? 👀#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ltpGcqPf1D
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 19, 2023
Piquet wrote, “what a drive @maxverstappen1. And snatching that fastest lap.” Admittedly, the 25-year-old ignored the team’s order to go for the fastest lap, in the end, to pick up an extra point.
Red Bull asked its drivers to maintain the pace, but the 2-time world champion had other ideas. He pulled off a stunning lap in the 50th lap and picked up an extra point. The extra point, along with points from the P2 finish, kept him in P1 in the driver’s standings.
Max Verstappen unhappy about P2
Sunday’s drive from Verstappen was an incredible one. The defending champion’s 13-place leap was one of the best in the sport in recent times. However, he was unhappy about his P2 in Jeddah.
Despite such a great race, the Dutchman had the win in his mind. But his teammate Sergio Perez had other ideas. The Mexican held off the former Toro Rosso pilot for the win. The Dutch pilot opened up about it after the race.
P15 ⏩ P2 ➕ Driver of the Day 🏆 Add another mighty comeback to the list 📝 pic.twitter.com/0I0iUlKTb7
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 19, 2023
The 25-year-old said that he is not here to finish second. While winning the championship remains his first priority, finishing second when the championship is between two cars is not nice. However, his team principal Christian Horner dismissed his disappointments.
The Dutchman failed to repeat the 2022 Belgian GP
The 2022 Belgian Grand Prix was one of the best races in Red Bull history and, of course, for Verstappen. The man who debuted as the youngest driver on the grid pulled off a stunner in Belgium last year.
Starting from P14, the Red Bull star managed to take the win in the end. After fending off challenges from teammate Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, he finished the race 17 seconds and 26 seconds ahead of them.
With a similar target in mind, the Red Bull ace could have done better this time. As compared to P14, he started from P15 and if he would have finished on top, the Jeddah race could have been his best-ever race.
