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Aston Martin's De la Rosa: 'Verstappen felt right at home here'
- GPblog.com
Pedro de la Rosa, former Formula 1 driver and now an ambassador for Aston Martin, was not surprised after Miami Grand Prix that Max Verstappen walked away with the win. Indeed, the 52-year-old Spaniard had seen Sergio Perez being inferior all weekend. He further discusses the race that 'his' Fernando Alonso drove in the United States.
"I think Max has been dominating the whole weekend. He only made one mistake, which was his first lap in Q3. And then he was unfortunate about the red flag. But let's be realistic. He has been super strong all weekend on single laps, on long run pace on the race simulations on Friday.
So I haven't been that surprised that he would do it because I didn't think Checo had that long run pace needed," De la Rosa told the F1 Nation Podcast.
The Mexican teammate did secure the best possible starting position by going fastest around the Miami International Autodrome in qualifying on Saturday. However, it was not enough for victory. "He eventually made it in Q3 and did a fantastic lap but it took him a lot of thinking, a lot of understanding what he was needing, a lot of looking at the data where Max was faster. I mean, Max was super fast looking at the data from turn five, six, seven eight, all that section of the sector one, he was unbelievably weaker than not Checo than everyone else, you know. And that's the difference, I think. Max came back strong, but he felt like at home since lap one here."
Alonso also excels
Fernando Alonso grabbed his fourth podium finish in five Grand Prix weekends. For a while after the end of the third free practice session, it did not look like the Aston Martin driver could finish third in the race. The pace in the AMR23 did not seem to be there, as Alonso finished 12th and Lance Stroll had to make do with 14th. It ended up being a second starting place in qualifying.
"I think he [Alonso] drove incredibly well," De la Rosa said of his compatriot's performance. "I was very impressed how he managed the medium tyre at the beginning of the race, having the pressure off. Carlos Sainz was flying on the Ferrari on that tyre Then they went to the hard tyre and they seemed to lose a lot of pace. But man, it's so difficult to think about the tyre and have someone stuck on your gearbox opening the DRS in every straights.
So it was it was a fantastic weekend, you know, really well managed," he concluded.