Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Verstappen: « The start of the race was a bit blurry for me »
The championship leader has chosen not to attack today.
After his main rival in the championship battle started from last place, the Dutchman only had to get a good start and win this race. But a hitch at the start prevented the championship leader from holding onto pole position in tomorrow’s race. Potential gearbox issues in the early laps forced him to let not only Bottas but also Sainz on a Ferrari pass. After a few laps, he was able to recover and take second place from the Spaniard. Then, having caught up with the leading Mercedes Bottas, he apparently chose not to risk attacking the Finn and settled for second place.
« I missed the start today! But overall in the race, I had a good pace, the tires behaved perfectly. I saw that Valtteri was faster than me in the straight lines, so I preferred not to attack him, but to keep the second place.
