Jos Verstappen reviews Max' race in Mexico: 'Puncture did him in'

Published on 28 October 2019 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished sixth fastest at the Mexican Grand Prix yesterday. The Dutchman dropped back after the start and even ended up last due to a puncture he suffered in an attempt to overtake Valtteri Bottas. Yet, Verstappen managed to plow his way back to the front during the race, but had to settle in the end with just eight points to his name. Father Jos reviews the race in Mexico City in Ziggo Sport’s Peptalk.

Qualifying is first discussed, during which Max was initially able to grab pole: “We were really happy with the lap times he was able to drive”, says Jos. “We never expected that beforehand.”

Because Max didn’t back off during a yellow flag situation in the closing stages of Q3, the Dutchman eventually lost his front row position. How does the father of the seven-time Grand Prix-winner sees this? “Max said that he hadn’t seen the yellow flag but only Bottas’ car. He didn’t take his foot off the gas, and I actually can see his point. The drivers normally get informed by the team very quickly if an accident has happened and what you need or need not to do. That wasn’t the case now, so the question remains what do you do as a driver.”

“Apart from that, you have just done your best lap of the entire weekend and everybody wants to get pole. There was just one corner to go, so he kept his foot on the gas. However, he wasn’t the only one and that’s the single one thing that really bothered him.”

Another thing that is looked at, is the start where both Max and Lewis Hamilton as well got onto the grass: “In the last few Grands Prix, Max failed to make it to the first corner and that’s a situation you don’t want to be in again. I am not saying that he was too cautious this time, because he braked quite normally. Entering the first corner, he was aside of Lewis, but the back of both cars broke away causing them to come into contact with each other. That’s also a part of racing and it’s all in the fun as well. I don’t think Max did anything wrong there.”

In the laps following, the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-driver tries to move up the ranks, but Max dropped back due to a puncture he suffered in an attempt to overtake Valtteri Bottas. Was that a decisive moment in the race? “I’ll tell you what, in hindsight it’s easy to talk about what he should or shouldn’t have done”, Jos points out. “The tyre degradation was very big during the weekend. During the free practices, the tyres were practically falling apart after about some ten laps. And then you see that Max is able to do the entire race on just one set of tyres, that is something nobody anticipated.”

“In hindsight you could argue that Max could have waited with his move on Bottas, but on the other hand we knew that you could get into trouble with the tyres after ten laps, making it hard to be able to do something after that. In any case, he tried to make the best of it, but the puncture did him in.”

Jos also points out how his son experienced coming into contact with the Mercedes-driver: “Bottas made a mistake in the previous corner and Max had the momentum. Valtteri saw him coming and left the door open, but he turned back in too quickly, causing his front wing to clip Max’ rear tyre.” A moment that threw every chance of winning the race out of the window, according to Jos: “Had that not happened, Max would have had a shot at the victory.”