Max Verstappen said Mercedes missed an opportunity to win the United States Grand Prix as he struggled with a braking problem throughout the 56 laps.
The Red Bull driver rose from sixth on the grid to take a record-equalling 15th victory of the season. He passed the Ferrari drivers and Lando Norris along the way, but complained frequently during the race about problems with his brakes.He told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase early in the race “these brakes are so shit” and repeatedly urged him not to talk while he was in a braking zone.
Having won yesterday’s sprint race from pole position, Verstappen said today’s grand prix had been more difficult to win. “It started already with starting in P6,” he said, “but the whole race I was struggling a lot with the brakes.
“Around here there are quite a few braking points and I couldn’t really have the same feeling as yesterday. So that definitely made my race a bit tougher out there today.”
Verstappen enjoyed a five-second lead at one stage after passing Norris, but Lewis Hamilton closed in on him over the final laps and briefly drew within two seconds of the eventual winner.
“You could see it was very close to the end,” said Verstappen. “Also with the backmarkers when the tyres are really going, it makes it a little bit more difficult.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
He said it took him a while to work out how best to cope with his braking problem. “Of course you don’t want to destroy the tyres, but at the same time I was struggling a lot on the braking, so it took quite a while to at least find a bit of a middle way.”
Besides matching his own record for the most grand prix wins in a single season, Verstappen became the fourth driver in F1 history to achieve a half-century of wins.
“It’s of course incredible to win my 50th grand prix here, as well,” he said. “So, very proud of course and we’ll just keep on trying to push for more.”
Verstappen took the chequered flag with one of his smallest winning margins of the season so far. He believes Hamilton, who lost time with a long first stint, could have beaten him to victory if Mercedes had planned their strategy differently.
“For sure they could have won today if they did a better strategy,” Verstappen told Sky. “The whole weekend they were very good, quick, I think.
“Today, probably from our side also with the brake issues that was hampering my pace but in general I think they were very strong this weekend.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 United States Grand Prix
- US GP was Mercedes’ best race of 2023 despite disqualification – Wolff
- Singapore and Austin retirements cost me top 10 championship place – Ocon
- United States Grand Prix result unchanged as FIA rejects Haas’ call for review
- Sargeant admits he’s ‘struggled to use all the downforce at times’ in F1
- Mercedes’ Brazilian GP set-up was “conservative” after US GP disqualification
AlonsoStig (@stigf1l)
22nd October 2023, 22:24
he did brake perfectly on the backstraight with DRS opened, what kind of brake problems he had?
Not David this time
22nd October 2023, 22:49
Once, 20 yrs ago, when i worked at a car dealership i hit the brakes while parking a customer’s car and nothing happened. The bounced off the wall of the building and stopped in the parking spot. I realized later i was pressing the clutch pedal. I never told anyone until now. I was so new to driving.
Maybe max was hitting the clutch?
Lol
Kribana (@krichelle)
22nd October 2023, 22:56
The DRS closes when the driver presses the brakes, so it should not have caused any problems.
MadMax (@madmax)
22nd October 2023, 23:19
psychological brake problems
Doggy
22nd October 2023, 23:25
Seems like one person with that crippling illness is projecting that out to a F1 driver..
Marty
23rd October 2023, 7:40
As it turned out Mercedes didn’t have a chance to win today. They had an illegal car.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
22nd October 2023, 22:32
Yet he didn’t outbrake himself, unlike Hamilton and Norris, who lost the race due to mistakes they made.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd October 2023, 23:21
Yeah, I can see how there might have been a win in it for Mercedes had they been more on the ball with strategy. To me it seemed they never really expected to have a shot and that played out with their strategy choices.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd October 2023, 23:23
Yes, I was surprised when they didn’t react immediately after verstappen pitted, it was the moment to box unless they wanted to go all the way for a 1 stop.
This way they didn’t put any pressure on verstappen, simply pitted and gave him the lead.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
23rd October 2023, 9:09
@bascb I feel that nobody knew if the 1 stop would work and that was Mercedes preferred option at the time but they realize lot earlier than Ferrari it wouldn’t work and brought Lewis in. Too late for the 2 stops but still early enough to salvage the result. Not much hard tire testing so all teams had to wait for the first cars on hard to get some data, not sure the pit lane starters were the best indicators for the early data.
Edvaldo
23rd October 2023, 1:09
Hamilton had a pretty good pace today, was catching Norris in a matter of laps. But they had to overthink it. That’s what they do best and lost dozens of races because of it already.
What was holding Max back was to be always behind someone, so what they did they do? Take their fastest car from ahead of him so he would need to deal only with Norris. Once he did that, he was free to manage and unleash his pace whenever he sees fit, the race was over. Hamilton was to be the one needing to cut the gap and overtake now and had the pace to do that with Norris, but not Max.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
23rd October 2023, 6:11
First pitstop strategy was aweful at Mercedes. Half-hearted attempt of a 1 stopper that meant a no-mans land strategy: too late for 2 stops, too soon for 1 stop.
Basically HAM lost 10 seconds with that stop, as he was 3+ sec ahead of Max and came out 7 sec behind (with slightly fresher tires, but I don’t think is was worth it vs. track position)
PG
23rd October 2023, 17:53
Max is taking the p**s. He knows the only reason he didn’t win by a street is because he buggered his final quali lap. Next time out normal service will be resumed and he’ll disappear like a fart in a hurricane. Verstappen’s not bad, but Adrian Newy himself could win in that car. It’s that good.
osnola
28th October 2023, 20:38
And it’s legal!