Verstappen happy with Red Bull performance despite puncture

2017 Italian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen says that he is happy with the performance of the Red Bull team around Monza despite an early puncture that left him fighting back to tenth.

Verstappen tangled early with Felipe Massa’s Williams at the Rettifilo chicane, forcing him into an unscheduled pitstop after suffering a right-front puncture.

“My race was basically finished after three laps,” Verstappen explains. “We started on the soft and then I punctured the tyre so then we had to do a two-stop. It was a bit of a shame – what can you do? I still did quite a decent race, so still happy with that.”

Despite the troubles, Verstappen was able to make his way back through the field to take the final point in tenth place at the chequered flag. With Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo finishing fourth, Verstappen is happy with the performance the team showed during the weekend.

“Daniel finished fourth so the car was working really well,” says Verstappen. “I was also happy even though I was playing catch-up. Hopefully in Singapore we can really fight for a proper podium.”

A incident late in the race for Verstappen with Kevin Magnussen’s Haas was investigated, but stewards determined that no further action was necessary.

“To be honest, I don’t really feel it was an incident and I don’t really care,” says Verstappen.

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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34 comments on “Verstappen happy with Red Bull performance despite puncture”

  1. Why some Dutch “fans” hate everyone that cl(r)ashes with Verstappen?I mean,its just racing.I get the point of being disappointed by a moment,an incident,but spreading hate is pure childish.If you go & check Massa’s social media,you will get what i mean.F1 fans are better than this…

    1. Maybe Verstappen and you should leave more space(s)?

    2. Especially since it was, at best, a 50/50 incident.

      Max makes far too many risky moves. Sometimes he looks a hero, sometimes he bounces off of other cars when other drivers don’t allow for full kamikaze moves lacking in finesse.

      1. @sham Perhaps with all those DNF & the dissapointment he had this season,Max sometimes over-tries some moves.

        1. He’s done the same since he arrived in F1. Not learning isn’t good.

          He’s an exceptional talent, but he needs to learn patience.

    3. Max had a bad day and he could’ve been more patient. And in the other hand Massa could’ve left some space but didn’t.

      It’s racing and this stuff happens sometimes.

      He needs to learn from this, that’s all

      1. @anunaki Yeah,it was just hard racing.
        No problem with that.The reaction of some “fans” is questionable for me.Express your opinion,but dont spread hate about a racing incident…

        1. @miltosgreekfan Yes, it’s a really sad development.
          I guess Verstappen is a ‘love or hate’-kind of guy, there seems to be not much in between. So there is a large group of Pro-Max (in which the Dutch are very vocal) and a large group of Anti-Max. And the atmosphere between these two groups is worsening. I like reading on Motorsport.com, but they milk the rivalry between Pro-Max and Anti-Max. Every fart from Verstappen gets it’s own article, knowing that there will be a mudfight of 100+ replies between Pro and Anti. It’s really sad, from both parties. I am ashamed of some of my countrymen.

          1. @matthijs Nice info,i ll have that in mind(about the Pro & Anti Max)

        2. @miltosgreekfan Well, it’s really depressing to be honest. There is one guy that keeps mentioning that he hates the Dutch and that they should be eliminated.

          1. @matthijs Journalist?Or someone commenting at motorsport.com?

          2. @miltosgreekfan No certainly not the journalists, they’re quite good. But they also know that an article about Verstappen is instant clickbait.

  2. MAX need to have a hard look at how he make passes, he could have waited a few corners and get the job done with no scares, being too aggressive has some benefits but then when you lose you lose big time.

    1. He needs to learn who he can make aggressive passes on, relying on the other driver to be equally aggressive but fair, and those that (a) will react by risking a collision, and (b) lack the skill level to leave space while still racing. Massa is a no-no on both counts. Hamilton took some time to learn Massa really doesn’t have the spatial awareness or fine control for close racing, and compensates by risking a collision, whereas drivers like Webber, Button, Ricciardo etc. could or can be raced without having to worry about needless incidents.

  3. VER is sooo overrated, hes a high risk overtaker, to often goes from hero to zero in a few laps, this may look exiting from our screens, but in the grand scheme, looses out.
    Riccardo is the true STAR

  4. Saying Verstappen is overrated doesn’t fit very well with him being regularly a little bit faster than Ricciardo. I think the real situation is that Red Bull are lucky to have easily the best two drivers of the new generation driving for them.

    1. wouldn’t have Dani in the “next generation” category as he was a bit of late bloomer and is 28.

      I am a massive Ric fan but even i can’t deny verstappens obvious talent. What ver needs to do with his time with Ric is study his race kraft. Rics pacience with his stratergy and overtakes today was first class. Verstappen just seems to rush overtakes sometimes..

      Still think they are the best pairing in f1, and can learn a lot off each other

      If verstappen matures he couldn’t be anything… hope Ric can get a championship before that happens

      1. Wow, 28! Actually hadn’t realized that. Still seems like a relative newcomer.

  5. Really a shame for the contact with massa, I agree, verstappen sometimes takes too much risk, keep in mind he went from 13th to 8th at the start, so sometimes the risk is rewarded, but then indeed he could’ve waited with massa and overtake him in a better place; knowing verstappen is faster than ricciardo and was also starting a bit further ahead, and also ricciardo’s start was far worse, so verstappen was a lot further ahead, I’m pretty sure without the incident he could’ve challenged vettel.

    Ricciardo is still a good driver however and one thing is reaching a driver, another thing is overtaking, especially in similar cars (ferrari vs red bull), so the fact he overtook raikkonen without big issues isn’t enough to say he or verstappen would’ve got vettel, but I think verstappen could’ve challenged him at least, if it weren’t for massa contact.

    1. Verstappen might have finished ahead if he hadn’t crashed into Massa. Hell, he might have come out ahead and broken the lap record 40 consecutive times to take the win. Sadly for all those clutching desperately to a positive reflection, he did crash into Massa while so many other drivers managed to pass cars without ruining their own or somebody else’s race.

      If we’re playing on mights, if Red Bull had given Ricciardo the favourable strategy while leading Max in Spain last year he might have easily won on the day. If Red Bull hadn’t cocked up Ricciardo’s pit stop at Monaco last year, Ricciardo might (or surely would) have won there too. That would have meant 2016 ended with Ricciardo on three wins, Max on zero. Maybe the Verstappen hype wouldn’t be so overblown if it had eventuated that way. Might, might, might. What isn’t a hypothetical is that so far in 2017 it’s one win for Ricciardo to zero to Verstappen – and nearly double the points for Dan.

      1. @toby he didn’t crash into Massa, Massa crashed into him. Watch it again. Verstappen was fully alongside, left enough space through the righthander, then Massa just moved over and bumped Verstappen out.

        This past weekend I’ve seen GP3, F2 and even Porsches go through there two wide without any issues. Massa running out of talent to do the same doesn’t mean Verstappen is to blame. Not even 50-50.

        Double the points for Dan doesn’t mean a lot given the misfortune Verstappen has had to endure. Or were you clamoring at the end of 2015 how Kvyat beat Ricciardo? Because him ending up higher in the WDC standings wasn’t hypothetical either.

        1. I don’t see why it isn’t a 50 – 50 clash at the best. If Verstappen came off with worse consequences and Massa didn’t get punished, I think it is quite clear that Massa wasn’t any more at fault than Verstappen. It could be the case that they thought Verstappen was more at fault but his puncture paid for his mistake. This is what I think is more likely and the reason why it was just classed as a racing incident.

          1. @thegianthogweed your explanation would be perfectly valid if the stewards were consistent. Which they have proven extensively they’re not.
            I’ll repeat, Verstappen was fully alongside right before the turn-in to the right-hander of Rettifilo, all the way to right before the turn-in to the left-hander. Then Massa just moved over to take the apex as if Verstappen wasn’t there.

            I mean, if Verstappen had done the same to Massa in the first right-hander, to take the apex as if Massa wasn’t there and if they had collided as such, we wouldn’t hear the end of it.

      2. @toby: we have a problem here, like someone else pointed out, kvyat made more points than ricciardo in 2015, was he a better driver?

        Or maybe, just maybe, having a season full of reliability issues reduces your effective max scoring points?

        1. @toby: also your discussion about might or might not have is pointless. I have been realistic (max could’ve taken vettel, since he’s faster than ricciardo and was far ahead, like 9 positions, before massa’s accident), you haven’t, since you said he might also have won, while we know perfectly mercedes were unbeatable today, no matter the driver, 3rd is the max he could’ve gone for, depending if he would’ve been able to make the move on vettel.

  6. Increasingly people are coming to the realisation that maxv isnt all that sky sports would have us believe. He is definitely fast, but not a great racer.

    1. He is, Massa just isn’t. If he would have put that move on Hamilton/Vettel/Alonaso/Ricciardo there wouldn’t have been contact. Those guys are good in wheel-to-wheel, just as Max is. Massa just isn’t and never was.
      Take off your ‘i hate Max Verstappen’ blinders and go watch the replays. You’ll see that at the first corner he runs Verstappen wide and just runs into Verstappen at the second corner.
      Max could have been more patient, a lap later he would have had DRS. But on the other hand it’s a renault engine against a Mercedes, who’s to say het would have gotten another chance. We didn’t see how they come onto the main strait, maybe Massa made a mistake wich allowed Verstappen to close in on him.

  7. At least this time around his setback was the result of him actually taking a risk (and it not paying off) instead of a mechanical failure he can do nothing about like in so many previous races this season.

    I dont really understand the animosity, he is exciting to watch even though he would probably get more points if he drove more conservatively but since I’m not the team principal of RBR I don’t really are about that, I prefer to be entertained :)

  8. Why is Massa involved in so many shunts? He’s either unlucky or his own worst enemy.

  9. The whole incident was down to Massa giving Verstappen a taste of his own medicine…and add some extra.

    Verstappen often receives critisism for his defensive actions, but they are always clean, the only time he touched someone was fighting of Ricciardo (of all). Massa maybe wasn’t 100% wrong (according to the rule book), but it was by no means respectfull racing. It’s that ‘add some extra’ which makes it hard to swallow.

    Obviously with all the DNF’s Verstappen gets a reputation, but so far he’s been only at fault one time this season, on which he didn’t DNF. Did he overdo it at Monza…? The large majority will say ‘yes’, but that mostly based on the sentiment of already havign 6 DNF’s already. In reality the move was correct and good, not even over ambitious, Massa went wheel to wheel with every driver which was close (Perez, Verstappen and Stroll).

    Waiting for DRS to open seems a rather easy answer to the incident, we all hate DRS and we probably all hate waiting, it’s a bot hypocrite to blame Verstappen for racing…which he did

  10. VER was a foul this weekend – why risk collissions with MAS, GRO and MAG – his car was much faster.. why overtake in the chikane or a turn – why not leave room for MAG… his car is so much faster he could have waited and then done the overtake 2 sec later… now everyone can see how young he is… he have all chances in that RB racer – most midfield drivers would give their hand away for driving it…foul…grow up…

    1. It’s a bit of a simple thought afterwards… ofcourse a driver can always wait for DRS, man F1 would get boring.
      We complain F1 is getting boring, we hate grid penalties and DRS, we cheer when drivers overtake and defend… when it comes to Verstappen he ofcourse could have put the car in cruise-controle, but he chose to race.

      F1 should not be about DRS and waiting.

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