Though Max Verstappen has been dominant in season 2023, it is also evident that his hard-fought victory at the USGP will not give him all the glory. The Dutchman won his 50th F1 race at the Austin circuits, and with this triumph, is just two wins away from passing Alain Prost to move into fourth place in the list of most Formula One Grand Prix wins. Despite Verstappen showing consistency by winning his third title and 15 victories this year, it has long been argued who has made Red Bull a formidable force. Is it Adrian Newey or another force?
Though this discussion does not appear to be ending anytime soon, one point is still up for debate. That is how Verstappen achieved his 50th Grand Prix victory. This topic has come to light because the 26-year-old won the race in Austin by a small 2.2 seconds margin over Lewis Hamilton, which was only possible due to one Red Bull member.
Who else deserves credit for Max Verstappen’s 50th F1 win?
Team Red Bull has won 17 of the 18 races so far this season, and throughout the F1 season, we have heard Max Verstappen’s name to deliver Red Bull their earned splendor. However, at the US Grand Prix, where the Dutchman started from P6, overcoming traffic and winning the race proved difficult. Though it happened, Red Bull’s chief strategist, Hannah Schmitz, deserves more credit than anyone else.
Over time, the British native has provided Red Bull with in-depth knowledge of the vehicle. The 38-year-old is in charge of taking notes on the team’s statistics and providing information based on her intuition to help the team succeed. Schmitz gained prominence by disrupting Ferrari from the title last year. However, her most major contribution this year occurred at the Texas track. According to F1 pundit Olav Mol, on one of his recent visits to a race cafe, he heard him commenting on Hannah’s intellect.
According to Mol, Verstappen’s brake troubles caused him to initially take it slow in order to conserve his tires. When explaining how the 26-year-old gradually increased his position by putting an undercut on the one who was second, he stated, ” The tactical feat of Hannah Schmitz (the chief strategist) is that he actually always did an undercut on the one who was second. That allowed him to take the lead with a catch-up, which is of course the best thing you can have.’
On his way to the top, Verstappen easily surpassed Hamilton in the opening round of pit stops. He then chased Norris on the mediums in the second stint and passed him at the halfway mark of the race. Though with a hanging issue with Verstappen’s RB19, overtaking these maestros was obviously not simple. A fact that Red Bull’s taskmaster Helmut Marko has finally opened up.
What did Helmut Marko say regarding Max Verstappen’s brake issues?
During the course of season 2023, none of the opponents were able to close the gap with Max Verstappen as much as they did at the Austin track. Following a P6 start, the 26-year-old was unable to pull a decent gap from the rest of the pack, which certainly had made him frustrated. After taking the lead in the middle of the race, the Dutchman sent an expletive-laced radio message to his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, informing him of a brake problem. Despite the technical difficulty, Verstappen won the race, though Mercedes maestro was able to close the gap on the Red Bull driver to 2.2 seconds.
Now speaking with SkysportsF1 Germany, team taskmaster Helmut Marko addressed the problem. He stated, ” We had changed the brake pads and somehow they deteriorated rapidly during the race. That didn’t give him the right feeling. Sometimes he braked predominantly with the front of the car, sometimes predominantly with the rear.”
Although, while wrapping up, the 80-year-old did shower praise on the Dutchman as he said, “ It made it very difficult for him to drive at the limit, but he worked around those problprems masterfully.” With four races left, it will be interesting to see if the Dutchman can break his own record for most Grand Prix victories in a season or not.
