Max Verstappen made it back-to-back wins at Zandvoort last Sunday after using fresher, softer tyres to pass Lewis Hamilton at a safety car restart, which Jos Verstappen claimed Mercedes hadn’t ”learned” from what happened at Abu Dhabi last year.
Lewis Hamilton then yelled at his crew over the radio, but afterwards apologized and said he backed those making tactical decisions at Mercedes.
“We have the appropriate team 100 percent of the time,” he remarked.
We have a collection of youthful, driven people on our team. Some have been here as long as I have and for much longer in the team, and they continue to be motivated year after year, and I am certain that we have the proper team in place.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Hamilton said.
Of course, we can always look back and claim we would have taken a different decision in certain situations. But it isn’t life; we just learn from it.
“I was hoping for a podium finish.
While Red Bull Principal Christian Horner did not highlight Mercedes’ decision to exclude Hamilton, he did question why George Russell was permitted to pit for softs during the safety car period.
“I was astonished they didn’t leave George out as a rear gunner for Lewis,” he remarked. “When he pitted, that handed Max and Lewis a direct fight with a tyre offset.”
“My main worry was that it would be two against one. However, as George appeared to pit himself against himself, a one-on-one combat between Max and Lewis became available.
“By the time they passed us on the pit wall, Max was already alongside, and it was just a matter of managing the race from there.”
“It was tight, but Red Bull came out on top,” Jos Verstappen told De Telegraaf.
“Max tested all of the tires and recommended the best one.” Mercedes also performed admirably; they had a strong chance of winning. But, thankfully, everything turned out nicely for us.
“And you’d think Mercedes would have learnt something from last year’s race in Abu Dhabi, but evidently not.”
