Verstappen after radio disagreements: 'I did slow down'
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Max Verstappen was the favourite to win the Belgian Grand Prix, grid penalty or not. He more than lived up to expectations and crushed the competition by driving 22 seconds away from number two, Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen on Spa win
Verstappen, who started from sixth position, first of all praised his car. "I knew that we had a great car and it was just about surviving Turn One. I could see it getting really tight so I was just going to stay out of that and it worked out," the Dutchman told reporters after the race.
"From there onwards we made the right overtakes and moves. I got a bit stuck in a DRS train at the start but once that cleared I could do my own pace. Again, really enjoyable," continued the reigning world champion.
During the race at Spa-Francorchamps, there were several moments when Verstappen could be heard bickering with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, who repeatedly reminded the driver to slow down. "I did slow down (after GP's radio message). We look at the numbers, we look at the wear of the tyre and this track is super hard on the tyre so you don't want to do any unnecessary things and that's what we did until the end," Verstappen said.