Red Bull’s Max Verstappen admitted he was surprised by McLaren’s call after winning the Qatar Grand Prix and ensuring the drivers’ championship would be decided in Abu Dhabi.
McLaren were the only team not to pit two drivers under the safety car on lap seven of the race in Qatar, and Pirelli’s mandated maximum stint length of 25 laps meant all drivers who pitted needed one more stop to make it all the way to the finish. With Verstappen starting second, he became the lead car in that strategy and won comfortably over Oscar Piastri.
“This was a great race for us,” Verstappen said. “We made the right decision as a team to box under the safety car. It was smart. I’m really happy to win here. We’ll keep fighting until the end.”
“I had a decent start. I got one position and from there it was just a matter of taking care of the tires a little bit. Then the safety car basically came out on the right lap, so I boxed. I think a lot of the guys behind me had the same idea. The team did a really good job there. We were able to stay out of trouble in the pit lane as well. The pit lane was pretty busy. And from there I knew I probably did the right thing.”
“We also knew that the two McLarens would need a lot of pace to get through a pitstop like that. When the safety car left they were a lot further apart at first, but for me the length of those two stints was just to make sure I was at the best possible pace from the first step to the end. I think I managed it well. Just sticking to my pace and looking after the tires was enough to get me to the flag.”
Verstappen, who pitted before Lando Norris during the early safety car period, said he realized he was in the box seat as soon as he returned to the track.
“I thought, ‘That’s an interesting move,'” he said. “At that point we knew we had a little bit of a gap, but we still have to keep the tires alive for 25 laps. There’s a lot of wear around here, but luckily everything went well.”
“When they called out to me, I had to look and remind myself that it was going on lap seven, so I thought, ‘Okay, this is how I go all the way.’” After all the pit stops, I was a little surprised. Because when they bring you in, you focus on the box and make sure there are no issues with the release and so on. So when I came out of the pits, I thought, “Okay, I think this is a really good opportunity to win the race.”
“At that moment, I thought we had a great chance to win…I don’t think about losing. That’s not on my mind. I think about how I can win.”
