Max analyses his overtakes and defensive race craft

Published on 12 August 2016 by Stefan Meens

In the space of a season and a half, Max Verstappen has built up a reputation as one of the best wheel-to-wheel racers on the Formula 1 grid. Together with Sky Sports’ Anthony Davidson, Max reflected on his race craft in Montreal and Silverstone.

In the Canadian Grand Prix, the 18-year-old Dutchman fought for fourth place with Nico Rosberg. In the closing stages of the race, the German was rapidly closing in on the Red Bull Racing driver. Despite the long straight and DRS, the faster Mercedes was not able to pass Max. “Rosberg was closing on me quickly so it was difficult, especially in Montreal where we didn’t have the highest top speed. But I managed to stay on the right defensive line.”

The battle for fourth was finally decided when Rosberg spun off at the final chicane after a second, all-or-nothing manoeuvre backfired.  “That definitely took away the pressure. We were both on the limit. I locked up slightly but he braked extremely late and was never going to make it.”

In Silverstone, the roles where somewhat reversed. This time round, Max was chasing down Rosberg on a drying track. Eventually the Dutchman passed the German on the outside of the high speed corner Becketts. “I almost had him a couple of turns earlier, but there was a bit of water that made me slide a bit. But he also struggled. He threw up some spray which meant I struggled for visibility, but I decided to just go for it around the outside. Luckily there was enough grip.”

Although it seemed a spur of the moment overtake, Max put a lot of thought into the manoeuvre. “The laps before I tried both the inside and outside of that corner. The grip levels were not that different. So when Rosberg defended the inside line, I tried going round the outside to keep the downforce on my front wing. This gave me more front-end grip and it worked out nicely.