Verstappen did not receive instructions at Sepang

Max Verstappen won his fifth podium at the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix where Red Bull Racing signed his first double of the season. The Dutchman put pressure on his teammate Daniel Ricciardo hoping to score another success after his performance in Spain.

The race could have ended much more quickly for Max Verstappen who narrowly escaped the collision between Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel at the beginning.

“I was finally able to get a good start, welcomed the youngest on the set. I braked late at the first corner and I was still behind Nico (Rosberg). Sebastian (Vettel) moved inside when he didn't have room to do so and hit him. I had to avoid the debris and the two cars and I lost three or four positions because of that. »

Max Verstappen nevertheless benefited from a good strategy from his team to get back to the front.

“I immediately took the advantage back from Kimi (Räikkönen) at the first restart and my pace was good after that. I was then able to get back to the front by evolving a different strategy with the hard tires which seemed to be the best choice. I was able to have a good fight with Daniel (Ricciardo), explained Max Verstappen. I felt like I could take the lead but the virtual safety car was launched again and I had to leave the pits on worn soft tires while Daniel had to have a new set. »

The Dutchman assured that Red Bull Racing did not give him instructions at the end of the race in order to secure the double, while the Dutchman was on the verge of being able to activate his DRS against Daniel Ricciardo before starting to lose ground .

“I attacked. We have tires that overheat when getting very close to a car and I already had worn rubber. So it was very difficult to be close enough to activate the DRS. We could do a few laps with less than a second delay with the hard compounds, but it was more complicated with worn tires., explained Max Verstappen.

The cadet of the F1 came within six points of fifth place in the Championship from Sebastian Vettel who retired at Sepang.

Malaysian Grand Prix results

Discover the analysis of the Malaysian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2083 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.