Max Verstappen was asked regarding Charles Leclerc’s mistake late in the race yesterday at Imola.
The Monegasque blamed himself for having attacked too much and would have done better to keep his position, to score more points in the championship.
However, the Red Bull driver does not throw stones at his rival, having already found himself in this kind of situation.
“The mistake, yes, it’s easy to make. Of course he was pushing hard to try to get past Checo but… It’s painful, I know that and I think he knows that, you know, he didn’t no need to hear condemnations from anyone.”
“It’s still such a long championship. You can still earn a lot of points. Yes, it’s not great for him but you can’t change what happened. And he certainly didn’t do it on purpose. Maybe a little too greedy, that’s all.”
Was he surprised that Ferrari didn’t have Red Bull’s pace at Imola?
“They were still very quick on Saturday! He was actually getting away from me at the start, he just had more graining, the one we encountered in Melbourne, you know. It’s a bit of a fluke, with the settings So they are still very quick and Miami can be very different once more.”
Hamilton one lap away? Not really a surprise for Max
On his opponents, the Dutchman adds that he was not surprised to find himself taking a trick on Lewis Hamilton in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, given Mercedes’ poor start to the season.
“Surprised? No…I mean, they’ve been slow all year, so it’s not really a surprise and I don’t feel happier to take Lewis a ride than anyone else. But that’s how it is this year. I don’t know if they’ll be able to get back into the fight with us, they’re starting to doubt it themselves for this year.”