Max Verstappen remained at the top of the Formula One world championship in Saudi Arabia on Sunday but said he was still not happy about having to settle for second in the race behind Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
The Dutch driver paid the price for a driveshaft failure in qualifying on Saturday that left him fighting from 15th on the grid in Jeddah, while Perez started from pole position.
“I got second back, which is good and of course, in general, all the feeling in the team, everyone is happy,” Verstappen told reporters.
“But personally I’m not happy because I’m not here to be second, especially when you’re also working very hard at the factory to make sure you get here in good shape and basically to make sure everything is in order.
“And then you have to do a recovery race, which I like. I don’t mind doing it. But when you’re fighting for a championship and especially when it seems like it’s just between two cars, you have to make sure that both cars are reliable. “.
The two-time world champion, who won the opening race in Bahrain with Pérez second, remained at the top of the overall standings because he set the fastest lap on his way to the checkered flag.
“It wasn’t very easy to get through the pitch,” Verstappen said.
He was already second at mid-range, but was startled when he noticed that the driveshaft was “a bit rough.”
“It makes a strange noise at high speed,” he told his race engineer.
Team boss Christian Horner said Red Bull reviewed the data and found nothing to worry about, leaving the two drivers free to run.
“I was in second place, we had a big gap behind, so at one point we decided to call it a day and settle for second, which I think was a very good recovery anyway,” Verstappen said. “I tried it at the end (for fastest lap) so luckily it worked.”
Verstappen has now led the standings for 19 races in a row, dating back to the Spanish Grand Prix last May.
