Verstappen hails ‘perfect’ race after dominant win

2017 Mexican Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen says he enjoyed the ‘perfect race’ as he dominated the Mexican Grand Prix to take his second victory of the season.

Verstappen took the lead at the start after making a bold move on Sebastian Vettel and was untroubled for all 71 laps of the race, winning by almost 20 seconds from Valtteri Bottas.

“I was cruising,” says Verstappen. “It was great.

“The start was very crucial and I went around the outside and that worked out well. From there on, I was basically just looking after the tyres and the car just performed brilliantly in the race. Of course big thanks to Red Bull because without them, this was not possible. After last week, this is a perfect race.”

Verstappen was able to avoid being caught up in the drama that unfolded between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who collided at turn three, forcing both title contenders to pit for repairs.

“That was good to see for me,” Verstappen says. “From then on, I just pulled away and did my race.”

2017 Mexican Grand Prix

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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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30 comments on “Verstappen hails ‘perfect’ race after dominant win”

  1. lol, sometimes his comments are so cool funny.

  2. MAXICO!

  3. Max continues his record of winning after kvyat demotion

    1. @f1fan-2000 RBR and Torro Rosso must take turns to hire and fire Kvyatt:-)

  4. His remark on the five second penalty had me laughing. He really is a cheeky sod.

  5. Max will be the champion next year, if RBR can provide a reliable and competitive car.

    1. So…Max won’t be the champion next year.

      1. Could still be. Palle didn’t say “if and only if”.

  6. When he is concentrated, he drives very stable. He has all the features of a future WDC. He deserved this race completely, and it was even above perfect as his team radio banter was ridiculous. The first lap overtake was marvelous, he kept his car just within the limits and enough on the track to keep Seb at bay.
    He drives around like a better combination of Montoya (team radio lashes, very fast qualifying, bold overtaking) and Grosjean (clever on brake balance, very clean handling on a good setup, edgy lack of ethics.)

    The problem is, and this is why I’ve been critical of him; when you have a close fight for the WDC and you gamble wrong and end on the wrong side of the track in situations as for Spain this year, or shenanigans as Canada, Monza, or Spain, you would lose the WDC as Alonso did in Japan 2012, or Seb did this year.
    People keep saying, ”he has 10 years”. No. Teams don’t have that much of an advantage any-more for such a long time and Schumi won 2 WDC with stuff you wouldn’t get away with nowadays. No. Based on all former champions he has, 3, 4 at best. If this chance comes too early in his career and he meets e.g the current Hamilton on similar cars and he doesn’t get it out of his system, he’ll just become Massa in 2008 who lost it on one dumb move in Singapore or Alonso is Suzuka 2012.

    1. Hans Braakhuis
      29th October 2017, 22:06

      Why you think he is not concentrated?

      1. Didn’t say that?

        1. You said “When he is concentrated, he drives very stable.”. Why would you mention that our he has no concentration issues?
          Max is probably the most concentrated driver ever.

          1. What do you basis you thesis on ‘Max being the most concentrated driver ever’? I’m curious to know what criteria and/or studies you have undertaken to support this?

    2. @xiasitlo
      Firstly, he was already out of the championship by Spain so he could afford to take risks. Secondly, for me in Monza he was completely blameless, Canada was a risky move but no different to what he did today, and that move paid off as well. Spain I will concede as probably too risky.

      Alonso might be a bad example because he’s burned his bridges with Ferrari and Mercedes, otherwise he might not still be stuck in a McLaren. Not to mention he had really no business being in the championship hunt in 2012 and really had to take every chance he got to stay in touch.

    3. As @george already mentions, the difference this year was, that Verstappen was long out of contention for the championship, so he could afford to throw caution in the wind really @xiastilo.

      1. @bascb
        No. That is just chauvinism. The difference is that none of the champions he will be contending against made these mistakes in their pre-title years, they all showed very stable concentration throughout that year. That is the important hint here. Just like I predicted time and time again with Bottas or Vettel and why Lewis would win in this year, some DNFs are mental giveaways. I could give numbers, but just like the Vettel and Bottas fans it would fall in the find.

        @george
        That Alonso part is ridiculous. He was leading by 40 points on Vettel at stages halfway into the WDC.

        1. @xiasitlo
          Funny, I would say Hamilton’s 2007 season was defined by a failure of concentration in China, then in 2008 he had the famous pitlane incident in Canada, both of which surpass any mistakes Verstappen has made this year. Vettel is a fair point, he was very strong in 2009 and would have won the championship were it not for the double diffuser.

          1. @george

            If your team keeps telling you to stay out on worn inters because Ron Dennis wants you only to beat Alonso, your teammate, after you’ve been sliding for the last 3 laps already at which Kimi already passed you on track, even when Alonso gained 16s in those three laps just because Alonso blackmailed, you, the single most famous British motorsport team in the world and he pulled off a dirty move in quali months ago which caused Lewis not to get Q3 pole and it became so childish Ron and Alonso were not even speaking to each-other…. then the blame lies with Ron Dennis. At least 80/20%

            So no. Not similar.
            In 2008 he still made the fewest mistakes. End of story.

          2. Whether it is a lapse of concentration (and it probably was, be it one happening after quite a tough couple of laps staying out when you should have been called in already) or blindly following the judgement of your team instead of your own feeling of how the car reacts, it clearly was a mistake in 2007.

            Hamilton has been making too many mistakes when he felt being under pressure, or not “in control” of what was happening around him. It happened a bit in 2007, it happened in 2008, we saw it clearly when he was rattled by Button nog being easy to beat and we saw it come up again when Rosberg kept fighting and even beating him in the Mercedes for a while.

            Again, what mistakes of Verstappen do you think really ruined his season. I see Spain and then mainly the one in Hungary that ruined his own race and Daniels. Verstappen has been quite in control of his car at most other moments – yes, including that incident he did not get away with.

            But you are quite wrong about title contenders not making bad mistakes in their pre-title years. We saw Vettel making quite a few of those over the years. Including DURING his title winning years.

            And please leave the “chauvinism” thing out of it, that really doesn’t have a place in here.

      2. @bascb
        Pure chauvinism and nothing else indeed again as you recalled the same arguments without adding anything new.
        Keep replying I’m done after this small hint which I meant all along;

        If people keep patronizing every Max achievement without trivializing any criticism, people will politically and/or secretly rally against him like with Schumi or Senna or Piquet or Alonso or G.Villeneuve. Two of them died…. excluding Schumi. Watch the trend in regulations after their death. IF you want to keep discussing this PM me as we work in the same city. You won’t do that, so I’ll just keep notifying you every time Max doesn’t win to remember you hide every time the kid screws up just like when you disappeared in Hungary.

  7. There is no doubt (for me) that the three best drivers in quali, the three best drivers in Keith’s mid-season rankings, are the three best drivers in the sport. Would love a three way battle next season, wow.

  8. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    29th October 2017, 22:06

    That is 80 points (1st, 2nd, 4th & 1st) from 4 races (could have been 83) – not bad compared to his earlier back luck start of the season.

    1. He’d be leading the WDC had the season started 4 races ago….

  9. This kid is as good as anyone I’ve seen in F1 and I’ve been watching F1 for 20 years. I think he is on the level of Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel now which at the age of 20 is outstanding!

    1. So Schumi, and Hak, are less than the aforementioned?

  10. Arrogant winner.

  11. Pure racer and i like it. This is what we want to see on the track…..action.
    If you pay a lot of money to see races, you want to see a exciting stuf on the track.
    Thanks to Max, we have that again.

  12. So Schumi, and Hak, are less than the aforementioned.

    1. Wha tare you on about?

      No one but you are comparing Verstappen to Schumacher or Hakkinen.

      He has been compared to the current drivers, not the former.

      As33 mentioned to have followed F1 for 20 years, to establish his basis for his statements.

      You are free to state that you think either one is better than the other, but please dont twist others comments.

  13. He undoubtedly drove a great race. But Vettel’s tap on him was similar to his hit on Hamilton. It was a bild and successful move, but also lucky he didn’t get a puncture himself.

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