F1 | São Paulo GP | Verstappen on his bittersweet second place in Brazil: “I hoped we had a better pace”
Max Verstappen lost a potential win in the last laps of the Grand Prix against Hamilton. He is still leading the battle for the title
The Brazilian Grand Prix offered a spectacular battle between the two major contenders to the 2021 title. Hamilton was starting last and Verstappen caught the first place immediately with a confident and decisive overtake on track against Bottas.
Then, it started a tight fight for the first place until the end, when Verstappen had to surrender to an on-fire Lewis Hamilton, after having kept him behind with a strong manoeuvre and having come out clean without any investigations from the FIA.
This should have been a bittersweet result for the Red Bull driver, as Verstappen is now still on the top of the standing for the championship but at the same time, the advantage is becoming thinner.
P2️⃣ It was a good battle and we gave it our all, but just lacked a bit of pace. We still scored good points and will bounce back 💪 #KeepPushing 🇧🇷 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/COmh7fiIUL
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 14, 2021
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“We were fighting for the position, I do not think that the stewards should have started an investigation” – he said to Sky Sport when asked about the way he closed the door to an overcoming Hamilton, pushing him off the track and not being penalised nor investigated by the FIA.
“I just tried to do all that I could; the result is the maximum we could get. Do Mercedes surprise me? Yes, I thought we had a better pace but from the beginning of the weekend I realized that it was going to be tough.”
The Dutchman is now looking at the finale of this season. “Now we have three races left, and they are completely different. We will see how it will go.”
He continued to talk about his impressions of the race: “The result of the weekend is good. I had gained two points and today I lost seven but they could have been ten. Therefore – he continues – I think it all went quite fine. We tried everything, it was a beautiful battle, but we still missed some more pace. However, it was very fun, especially our battle.”
