Verstappen did not suffer from his damaged wing

Max Verstappen turned the page on his lackluster start to the season by climbing onto the third step of the podium at the Spanish GP, where he won his first victory in F1 two years before.

The pilot Red Bull took advantage of the second stop of Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) when implementing the “Virtual Safety Car” to take third place, but the Dutchman damaged his front wing by hitting the Williams de Lance stroll at the time of restart.

“I thought I had a bigger impact than that, but I chose to continue. I had a little more understeer in turns 3 and 9 and I had to brake a little more in the hairpins, but it wasn't too bad. I was a little slower, but I don't think I was too affected,” commented the Dutchman.

The Red Bull driver can be optimistic since the next meeting will be contested in Monaco, a circuit where the Austrian single-seaters are used to performing well.

“We were good in the last sector (in Barcelona) and generally in the slow corners. So it will be the same thing in Monaco. The gaps we have with our opponents depend a lot on the length of the straights. I hope there will be a time when we will be able to get performance out of the engine”, launched Max Verstappen.

At the end of the Spanish GP, Max Verstappen came back to 14 points behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo who finished fifth in the event.

Discover the analysis of the Spanish GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2165 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.