Verstappen took his sixth win of the 2022 season, and Red Bull ‘s sixth in a row, by beating Carlos Sainz in the 15-lap sprint after the Safety Car that came out at the end of the Canada race.
Max Verstappen looked as if he could beat Sainz with some ease with a two-stop strategy, but a final safety car after Yuki Tsunoda retired gave Ferrari the opportunity to make a second stop and hold their own until the end.
Despite having a five lap advantage on his tires and the benefit of DRS during the closing laps, Carlos Sainz was unable to get close enough to attempt to pass Verstappen.
The line speed of Red Bull’s RB18 car has been one of its strengths so far this year, but team principal Christian Horner believes it was traction out of corners that made Verstappen able to keep Sainz at bay.
“The first sector was critical, and it was the traction coming out of Turn 10 that was vital,” explained Horner.
“He never got closer than six-tenths, and that’s when he got closer to having a chance. He was 0.7s, 0.8s, and Max could never get more than a second apart.”
“The Ferrari was very, very good on the curbs. It was able to pick up a lot of speed going over the curbs. And the DRS zone on the back straight and also the other two keep your options.”
Max Verstappen eventually crossed the finish line 0.993 seconds clear of Sainz to claim victory, extending his lead in the drivers’ championship to 46 points.
Asked by Motorsport.com to explain his tactics in the closing laps, Verstappen said he focused on nailing down the first sector so he could make enough of a difference before the first DRS zone.
“You always have to make sure you know the point where he is going to use DRS, and you have to get a good exit from the previous corner,” Verstappen analyzed.
“It was about going to the limit and not making any mistakes in general. Because I knew that even in sector 1, if I had made a small mistake, Carlos would gain a tenth from me, and that could have been enough to get close in the first zone of DRS, and then pass me in second.”
“It was a real race, real push. And I mean there were times where I oversteered a little bit, and then I looked in the mirror and saw Carlos was having just as much trouble.”
“Everything was really on the limit, but it’s good to see races like this,” concluded the Red Bull rider.
