Jos Verstappen saw Max Verstappen take his 25th Formula 1 victory on the Baku street circuit, equaling Jim Clark and Niki Lauda in number of victories. The former driver was proud of his son and explained why the Dutchman’s performance was so good.
Despite this, the father of the current world champion in the highest category of motorsports, also recognized that they needed a little help from luck: “Let’s be honest: everything went perfect,” said Jos Verstappen on his official website.
The former Arrows driver, among others, praised Ferrari’s strategy in calling Charles Leclerc into the pits during the virtual safety car period: “When Max came in later to change the tyres, he was 13 seconds behind. there was another VSC and I think that again Leclerc could have taken advantage of it.”
But that opportunity never came, as the Ferrari driver was forced to retire while leading the race after twenty laps and Red Bull placed its two drivers in the top two positions, with Verstappen and Sergio Pérez in that same order. .
“That logically played in our favour. Otherwise, Max could have joined the fight [with Leclerc], but if you get there, then you have to take a number of risks to overtake, but finally we didn’t need to get there. it’s”.
During the Monaco Grand Prix, Jos criticized Red Bull’s strategy that led to victory for Sergio Pérez and third place for his son. Verstappen later said his race had been spoiled on Saturday after the red flag at the end of Q3 caused by an accident by the Mexican driver, which meant “racing harder” for Max Verstappen.
“Max was on fire,” said Jos Verstappen. “That really is something that had to do with everything that happened in the Monaco race, but he doesn’t care at all. I think that’s great, because they just motivate him to be better. A Max on fire is a Max still. better”.
Despite Verstappen leading the world championship with a fairly large points lead, despite two DNFs earlier in the season, his father is convinced there is still plenty of room for improvement, especially on Saturdays.
“After qualifying [in Baku], we saw some frustration in him, because things weren’t going the way he wanted. On the street circuits it’s even harder for him, because there’s less rubber on the asphalt and he has more trouble turning. “.
Although Red Bull often loses to Ferrari on Saturdays, the Austrians’ performance during the race seems to be much better overall: “In the race, the tires behave differently and the car gets faster as you turn more. And Max manages that very well.”
Max Verstappen in the pits during the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP
