Verstappen admits: 'Strange that it was such a bad start' to Imola sprint

Verstappen got away badly at the start of the race, forcing him to give away first place to Leclerc. Nevertheless, the Dutchman managed to come back towards the end of the sprint race, giving him the maximum number of points on Saturday. To Viaplay, the Red Bull driver talks about his race.

"Of course it was a bit unfortunate at the start, I don't know exactly what went wrong there. I had a lot of wheel spin, but it was strange that it was such a bad start. After that we actually stayed close the whole time, one tenth or half a tenth out."

"Eventually that graining came very much on the front tyres with Leclerc. Then I was able to close the gap a bit and get into that DRS. Of course he also had to use his battery, I think he didn't have that much left either, and that allowed me to attack in turn two. Once we were in front, it was also just done. It's a good start, good points, but of course we have to be there again tomorrow."

Verstappen sounds satisfied

With Perez in P3, Red Bull has a good chance of a double podium, but with Ferrari right behind them it looks like it will be another exciting fight. However, Verstappen does not expect any problems managing the tyres during the race.

"In that sprint you drive pretty full out, so there wasn't a lot more in it at the beginning, but of course you're not going to do weird actions or steer more than necessary. I think we made the right choices in terms of set-up to handle the tyres well. Ferrari is second and fourth, so we are close and hopefully as a team we will have a bit more speed tomorrow," said Verstappen.