Peter Windsor: “What a drive again from Max"
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The Russian Grand Prix gives Peter Windsor more reasons to praise Max Verstappen. The Red Bull Racing driver made some impressive actions at the start and, according to the F1 analyst, has driven his own race without worrying about Lewis Hamilton in third position.
“What a drive again from Max. Just as good as his qualifying performance but now parlayed that into a beautiful race from beginning to end," Windsor said in his analysis on his YouTube channel. The Brit is of the opinion that Verstappen had mastered the start of the race. "He took a very nice dodge going into turn one, or actually it is turn two. Around the outside realised there was going to be a problem and just went on to the escape road and beautifully through the chicane," he added.
In the fight with Daniel Ricciardo, there wasn't enough space, so the 22-year-old Dutchman had to go around the polystyrene barriers on the left side of the circuit in Sochi. "He didn’t lose a position, he lost track ground to Daniel Ricciardo. Then he is on it and he’s going through turn tree the long left-hander. He’s right behind Daniel and going into four the tight right. Daniel just bubbles out of the corner. It is not a moment. He just seems to be very conservative on the exit. Max gets him into turn 5," said the experienced journalist, who had expected more from the Renault driver there.
No pressure from Hamilton
Thanks to Lewis Hamilton's time penalties, Verstappen had a relatively easy afternoon, as Valtteri Bottas was simply too fast in his W10. "There was a moment Lewis was going relatively quickly sort of matching Max, but Max put in the hard work. There was a lovely moment when Red Bull starting him to give information about the gaps. I’m not interested in gaps, I’m just going to drive my own race. That is classic Max Verstappen. That’s exactly what he did," Windsor concludes.