"Tricky once you get around that 1-second window to get super close" - Max Verstappen says overtaking still difficult with new generation of F1 cars

Max Verstappen suggested that overtaking might still be difficult with the new generation of cars. The Dutchman, who won the sprint race ahead of the Imola GP, explained the situation where tire degradation made his race a little harder.

Describing the start of his race and the point where he chased Charles Leclerc, the Dutchman said:

“Terrible when I let the clutch go, just too much of wheel-spin and no traction. So my start was very very poor. Then after the safety car restart, it seemed like initially that Charles [Leclerc] was very quick and he was actually pulling away like a tiny bit lap after lap. But then at one point the tyre came into play and it seemed like that point on, I could close the gap again. It’s very tricky once you get around that 1-second window to get super close. Of course with these cars it is better to follow but it’s still very hard to pass.”

Moaning his troublesome start, the Dutch driver mentioned that he barely had traction as he got off the starting line in the sprint. While Leclerc did not manage to pull away beyond two seconds into the race, Verstappen revealed that once his tires were optimized in the right window, he was able to close the gap between the two. Suggesting that it is difficult to get into the DRS window easily, the Dutch champion revealed that it might be easy to follow another car in the new generation cars, but it is very tricky to overtake.

Revealing the reasons behind the difficulty of being able to overtake the new generation of cars, the Dutchman said:

“Because you still need to use up the tyres, specially with the deg(radation) we had on that soft, like getting in that DRS window was hard. But once I got into it, on the second attempt, we had a good little battle into turn 2. But clearly we had a bit more pace at the end of the race.”

Despite being in the DRS window, Max Verstappen revealed that it still leads to a lot of tire degradation while using the tires to follow cars closely. He also mentioned that his tussle with Leclerc was short-lived as he had more pace in his tires towards the end and got the winning move done easily.

---

Max Verstappen admits playing the waiting game worked in the Sprint

In the battle against Charles Leclerc, the Dutchman said he knew he had the pace. Revealing that he was pushing at the beginning of the race, Max Verstappen said he had to control the tire usage knowing the degradation of the soft compound tires.

Asked if he had played the waiting game until Leclerc’s tires were worn out, Verstappen replied, saying:

“I think we were pretty much flat out and you know in the beginning and it’s not many laps you have anyway in the race. Of course we knew that on these tyres, it was going to be tough at the end of the race, like the last few laps. But yeah it worked out for us.”

Max Verstappen had pushed Charles Leclerc into using up his tires towards the end, after saving his own tires for the majority of the sprint. Managing a late pass on lap 20 towards the end of the race, the Dutchman clinched victory in the maiden sprint race of the season.