Max after a legendary performance at Interlagos: “Alsmost as good as a win”
Published on 14 November 2016 by Mike Motilall
After the race, Max was extensively debriefed by the international press corps. The Brazilian press even went so far as to compare our country fellowman with the legendary Ayrton Senna. The press in general was undividedly ecstatic about the performance of the 19-year-old Dutchman. There was enough to reflect on!
Were you happy with the start behind the safety car or would you have preferred a normal start? “Well, I was on the grid with both my rear tyres on the white line, so I was happy with the safety car start.” At the start you immediately gained a position.”I saw Kimi taking another line, so I thought: then I’ll try to go on the outside. He kept running in Rosberg’s spray, so I was able to go on the inside. I was happy with that.” How do you manage to find that much grip on a wet track? “That is my experience from go karts and Formula 3. Only the car is a little bigger. I also talk about it a lot with my dad and always try to find other race lines than others, especially in the rain. And it worked out well.”
How were the conditions at the start? “I could understand why race control wanted a break with the first red flag, but with the second one, I actually thought that we could just go racing. When we were eventually able to go racing, I found the conditions to be even worse than they had been.” It was in any case tricky for you as well, judging by your near-spin getting on to the straight. Dubbed by the English as the ‘save of the century’. “I was a little lucky with that. I slammed on the brakes, so the car couldn’t slide further in. At a certain point, I regained control of the front, so then I let the brakes go and the car just turns in. Barely escaping the guard rails, so that’s fine.”
The choice for the intermediates, did that cost you the victory? “Yes, maybe it did, in any case the second place. But the rear tyres were going off and Daniel was already on the intermediates, so we decided to do that as well. The moment that I had that strapped on, it was indeed a faster tyre. So that worked out well for a moment. But that was only for one lap, because then it started to rain even heavier. Then I didn’t have any grip anymore in the final sector where it was already difficult. So we had to go back to the full wets and back to the sixteenth position. But after that I had some good fun and action”, says Max. Talking about an understatement. “I did many overtakes from the outside, you cannot stay behind of them because of the spray. So you try to find another line.” What was your best overtake? “The one on Vettel, because he was not making it easy again.” He did get on the radio. “Well,” Max smiles, “he should have stepped on the gas.”
You have been voted Driver of the Day again. “This time it is fair. In America it was a bit strange. But it was a great race, crossing the line it felt like a victory. It was almost as good as my win in Barcelona. Regarding strategy, today was not the best, but it did bring me a lot of fun.” Did you know that the crowd was really enjoying your race? “Yes, because every time I spoke with my race-engineer on the radio, I could hear the crowd going crazy in the background. That motivated me even more to a better job.”
