2nd place Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing. 19.03.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 2, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Race Day.
Max Verstappen has declared he feels he would have won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix without the driveshaft problem that forced him to start down the order.
The reigning two-time Formula 1 champion convincingly won the opening race in Bahrain and looked on course to repeat that feat in the second round.
Having led all three practice sessions Verstappen asserted himself as the overwhelming favourite for pole and led proceedings in Q1.
However, a driveshaft issue in Q2 curtailed his Saturday running and left him consigned to a starting spot of 15th.
Although the Dutchman recovered to second in the race, Verstappen insists he should have been the victor over his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
“We need to do better as a team, we can’t have problems like these,” Verstappen, whose Q1 lap would have been enough for third on the grid, told Dutch broadcaster Viaplay.
“Otherwise this would have been a very different race for me. At the end we limited the damage a little bit, but I should have won here.”
It’s not the first time Verstappen has demanded Red Bull improve its early-season reliability frailty.
He suffered two retirements in the opening three races of last year due to mechanical troubles, leaving him 46 points behind the then-Championship leader, Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull eventually got on top of its problems and Verstappen soared to a record-breaking 15 wins in a single campaign, winning the title with several rounds to spare.
The Austrian outfit’s superiority over the rest has continued into 2023, with the reigning champions taking a 1-2 finish in both races thus far.
With the Drivers’ title already appearing to come down between the two Bulls, an unhappy Verstappen has underlined the team has to ensure both cars run reliably.
“Everyone is happy but personally, I’m not happy because I’m not here to be second,” he pronounced.
“When you’re fighting for a championship and especially when it looks like it’s just between two cars, we have to make sure that also the two cars are reliable.”
Verstappen’s attitude to leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit of more success was showcased in full during the final stages of the race in Jeddah.
After making his way up to second, the 36-time F1 race winner set about closing down the five-second margin Perez had built up at the front following the Safety Car period.
But fresh driveshaft concerns halted his charge, resulting in Verstappen instead chasing the bonus point for the fastest lap.
He succeeded in his endeavour by overhauling Perez’s previous best time on the final lap, which means Verstappen holds onto his lead in the Drivers’ standings by a single point.
Perez, however, voiced his displeasure after the race, pointing to the fact both Red Bull drivers had previously been told to stick to a target lap time.
The Mexican has now revealed his concerns derived from both Red Bull cars facing the threat of retirement in Bahrain if a rival team had pushed it harder.
“We were in a lucky position in Bahrain but otherwise if we had to push to the end, we probably wouldn’t make the race,” the Saudi GP race winner disclosed.
“So, there are a lot of reliability concerns at the moment but hopefully they don’t hit us anytime soon.
“It’s going to hit us at some point but obviously we need to keep working on that.”
Keyword: Verstappen certain he ‘should have won’ Saudi GP without qualifying issue