Pulling off a sensational overtake on reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said it was not easy winning the French Grand Prix.
This comes as a sigh of relief for the Dutch driver after he retired from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while leading the race due to a tyre failure.
Hamilton finished second and Verstappen’s Mexican teammate Sergio Perez took the final step on the podium.
"It was certainly not an easy race. Winning this race was an amazing team effort and to have a double podium at a track like this really shows the hard work everyone is putting in here,” Verstappen said.
"Of course, I would have liked to pull off into the distance and cruise ahead on my own but it doesn’t often work like that in Formula One and we really had to work for it. You can see how close the two teams are and to win like this on strategy with two laps to go is very rewarding.
“I got caught out at Turn 1 and lost the rear which meant I had to go off the track and lost a position to Lewis. I was of course upset at the time but I knew there was a long race ahead and I had to focus. In the first stint I didn’t really have the pace to fight with Lewis so we took the risk to pit first and to be honest I didn’t expect the undercut to work so well that I would come out ahead.
“In the end, we made the right calls for both cars and it is great to be on the podium with Sergio,” he added.
Perez said: “It’s a great result for them which is what really counts and so I’m happy with that. On my side, this weekend wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, as drivers we only want to win so I just have to keep working hard, continue improving and getting better results with the great car that I’ve been given.”
Verstappen improved his lead over Hamilton with the former on 131 points and the latter on 119. Perez is on 84 and McLaren’s Lando Norris is fourth in the driver standings on 76.
Among the constructors, Red Bull have raced ahead and lead with 215 points, while Mercedes are second on 178. McLaren are third on 110.
Hamilton said: “The Red Bulls had better straight line speed all weekend but considering that we had such a difficult Friday, I'm really happy with this result. Of course, we didn't win and we had the lead but I had no tyres left at the end so unfortunately, we lost the position, but it was still a good race. We've got to find some pace, that's for sure."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “The day went back and forwards, we were in the lead because Max made the mistake but our overall pace was good - maybe a little bit of a margin, even.
"We have lots to learn and we need to understand the great pace of the Red Bulls on their out laps. It's something we'll look at to help us improve but I think we had a solid racing car today and I'm glad it was an exciting race, we love entertainment too," he added.
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