Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Interlagos, 2019

Vettel and Hamilton surprised by straight-line speed of Verstappen’s Red Bull

2019 F1 season

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Red Bull’s rivals were surprised by their performance on the straights as Max Verstappen took pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen gave little away to his rivals in the first and third sectors at the Interlagos circuit, which include two long flat-out sections.

Sebastian Vettel said he was surprised by Red Bull’s performance. But he doubts it comes from them doing anything different with their Honda engines as they have not changed any of their hardware this weekend.

“Obviously there is no progress from one race to another because it’s the same engine,” he said. “I suppose – I don’t know, I haven’t checked, but I don’t think they have introduced a new spec.

“I think it was a bit of surprise. We’ve seen a lot of qualifying sessions and we were always a bit faster than everyone in the straight, losing a bit in the corners.

“But today we were as quick, or Max and Alex were as fast on the straight as us. So that’s about it. I don’t know why. I know we didn’t do anything different.”

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Red Bull’s improved performance on the straights was clear to see in qualifying, said Lewis Hamilton.

“They’re quickest in the middle sector so they’ve obviously still got the same amount downforce but obviously more power this weekend,” he said. “And considering we’re at higher altitude, I have no idea where that stuff comes from.”

However Max Verstappen said the team’s improvements this year haven’t only come from its power unit.

“I was not the fastest in the last sector,” he pointed out. “But we were the fastest in the second sector, which are where the most corners are.

“Throughout the whole year, both from the chassis side and the engine side, we made good gains. We just continued to work like that and also experiment for next year. So I’m very happy of course with the progress throughout the season.”

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2019 F1 season

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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20 comments on “Vettel and Hamilton surprised by straight-line speed of Verstappen’s Red Bull”

  1. High altitude VTEC just kicked in, yo!

  2. This is big. Could be a glimpse of what next year will be like.
    Good work Honda!

    1. Yes fantastic to see Honda right up there. After their horrible F1 start, I honestly doubted they ever would make it, or even pull out, but they really delivered so kudos to them.

  3. Obviously cheating if we follow Max’s recent analysis of straight line performance advantage …

    1. Except that max was not lying about the fer straught line speed, and ham and vet are lying about the straight line speed of the rb.

  4. Clearly Honda is cheating then :)

  5. That’s what happens when you start cheating

    1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      16th November 2019, 21:03

      :-D

  6. Honda and Max must be cheating!!!

  7. Both Red Bull and Mercedes already tweaking for next year. I think Max could still be the champion before Charles.

    Ferrari are going to have usual knee jerk reaction and ‘try something new’ again in the middle of the season.

  8. Lower air pressure = lower drag tho. RB’s high drag philosophy hurts its straightline less here. What’s more amazing is that they maintained a decent gap in the infield section

  9. Have RBR/Honda figured out and started using Ferraris performance trick?

  10. As with Mexico, the higher altitude means less drag, so they don’t lose as much time on straights. Plus, with only two races to go, Honda can finally breathe easy and let them push the engine harder.

  11. Latest (link): It seems RBR and Honda have found a way of increasing fuel flow and upping the power of the PU managed through a small lever which Max can manipulate with his right foot.

    I wonder if the FIA will ‘clarify’ this as being against the technical regulations or the stewards might even see this as a driver aid.

    1. Very good.

      I am predicting disqualification on sporting regulation grounds since this isn’t a technical breach. Meanwhile all the other teams will play mum on whether they use a similar system whilst tut tutting Red Bull’s brazen disregard for obvious rules.

  12. Well when Ferrari stopped cheating de Honda is on par it seems.

    1. Shame RB only wake up when the season is done and dusted.

    2. Maybe Ferrari stoped but Honda and Max start cheating! They are on par

  13. Haven’t RB and max got through 5-6 Pus this year? Makes sense they would have Pus with significantly less mileage on them. Ferrari seem to have been pegged back by the TD and Merc have nursed their 3 allocated Pus through the season without any grid drops. RB always pull it out the bag when the season is finished too.

  14. Yeah right cheating. So how are RBR over 0.5s quicker on the straight then?

    Ferrari is still fastest on the straights, but now only 1 or 2 tenths, instead of the former 7. The RBR performs just a little better than it did last year with the Renault engine.

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