Max Verstappen was staggered with the “insane” lap times Lando Norris produced on worn tyres in Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix, citing he couldn’t match that pace.
The Dutchman led the opening stint from pole position but dropped behind Norris when the McLaren driver pitted under a mid-race Safety Car at a reduced time loss.
Verstappen was unable to respond to his rival’s pace and took the chequered flag 7.6 seconds behind Norris, who landed his maiden F1 success at the 110th attempt.
“I think it was a long time coming, you know, and I’m very happy to be beaten by Lando today,” Verstappen said. “He definitely deserved it.
“He was just miles faster at the end there. So yeah, it’s great, winning your first race is always, I think, quite emotional.
“And yeah, it brings you back to, you know, all the days that you worked towards Formula 1, you dream of being on the podium, but then being on the top step.
“So, yeah, of course, naturally I’m not very happy with my day, but you can appreciate and respect what Lando has done today, and I’m very happy for him.”
Verstappen has admitted that Norris’ lap times on old rubber were so impressive that keeping him behind even with track position would have been tough to achieve.
Asked whether he was surprised with McLaren’s pace in Miami, Verstappen replied: “Well, I mean, I didn’t really see him in the beginning because I was more focused on Oscar behind and the Ferraris, but then I boxed and I heard the pace that he was doing on the used Mediums. “It’s like… I mean… That’s quite insane. I mean, I would have never been able to do so.
“So I knew even if there wouldn’t have been a Safety Car that when he would come out on fresh tyres that I would have had to push on quite a lot to be able to keep him behind.
“And actually, I mean, the Safety Car came. It’s racing, sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you.
Even with that we still had all the opportunities to win, but we’re not quick enough after that Safety Car. Once I realised that I just settled in and tried to come home in second.”
Verstappen had complained that the balance of his Red Bull RB20 car was far from optimal in the Sprint and he conceded that matters did not improve in the main race.
“It was just quite poor I would say in the race, but also I never really felt comfortable the whole weekend with it,” he explained.
“I think on the Medium it was still okay-ish, but on the Hard it was quite a disaster.
“I mean, just low grip, just very tricky balance in the low speed, I couldn’t really lean on the rear, while in the high speed I was understeering a lot, so when you have these two issues you cannot also balance it out because you’re chasing two different things. So yeah, just driving to the grip that I had and it was not a lot.”
