He deserved it, says Verstappen about Norris’ victory – F1sport.cz

Max Verstappen finished second in Miami. He was damaged by the exit of the safety car, but it was not the only reason.

In the first stint, Max Verstappen was unable to significantly overtake Piastri. After the exit of the safety car, he fell behind Norris, who then gradually built up his lead. They were separated by seven seconds at the finish of the race.

“You win, you lose. I think we’re all used to that in racing, aren’t we?” Verstappen told Sky Sports.

“It was just a bit tricky today. I think I didn’t feel great on the medium tires anymore. We took the lead, but not the way it should have been.”

“And then as soon as we got into the pits and he heard the lap times of the McLaren, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty fast.’ Once they also switched to hard tires, they just had more speed – and especially Lando, he was flying.”

“It was incredibly difficult for us in that stint. But if it means that if we have a bad day, we finish second, then I’ll take it. And I’m very happy for Lando. He waited a long time for this. And it won’t be his last win, so yeah, he definitely deserved it today.”

Asked if McLaren’s improved car reflected his actual pace, he replied: “I hope not! I mean they deployed the tweak….yeah it seems to be working. We still have some work to do on our end.’

“It was definitely not our strongest weekend in terms of race pace, but we will analyze everything and try to come back.”