After a dominant victory at the 2023 Bahrain GP, Max Verstappen was happy to have a straightforward win after a few problems on Saturday in qualifying.
Verstappen started from pole position and led from start to finish, coming in almost 12 seconds ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, with Fernando Alonso a whopping 38 seconds behind the Dutchman.
“It was a really good race,” Verstappen told the press. “It was important to have that first stint where I could open up a gap a little bit. And after that, I could look after my tires quite well.
“The car was working well. You never know what what can happen throughout the race. But we were on top of things and it was quite straightforward.”
Keeping Red Bull advantage
Red Bull and Verstappen did have some balance issues in qualifying, but were never under any pressure from other teams on the F1 grid, and Verstappen hopes Red Bull can continue with the advantage.
“I do think our mentality also has changed a bit compared to a few years ago in terms of how we are operating and how we are developing our car,” Verstappen said.
“’It’s great to finally have a car which is able to win from the start. It also helps that the car’s not so overweight. It’s perfectly fine now.
“But we also know that through the season you have to go on developing and we hope that’s going to be more than the other teams because you have to try and keep that advantage going.”
