Red Bull’s Verstappen narrowly beat McLaren’s Norris in the race at Imola. He started strong on medium tires but struggled with hard tires for most of the 63 laps.
Verstappen said, “On the mediums it was very good. But then as soon as I swapped to the hard tires, maybe not the first five to 10 laps but after that, I was like: ‘I’m not sure I can bring this to the end’. The tires just fell out of the operating window and it was just like driving on ice.”
He nearly crashed at Turn 7’s Tosa hairpin, feeling like he might end up in the grandstands. Norris, in his upgraded McLaren, closed in on Verstappen in the final laps.
Verstappen admitted he doubted keeping Norris behind but focused on getting a good exit onto Imola’s main straight, where Norris could pass.
Norris never got close enough to use DRS, but finished seven tenths behind.
Verstappen said, “I was really trying to survive at the time, and then suddenly Lando really picked up pace. I could see him catch up and I was not sure if I could keep him behind.”
He also had to deal with track limit warnings, which meant he risked a penalty.
“I was understeering a lot on the medium and that was pushing me off sometimes if I missed the apex,” he said about his track limit offenses. “After that was leaving a bit more margin.”
In the final laps, Verstappen had to be careful with every exit to avoid mistakes.
