Dutch racing sensation Max Verstappen admitted to being worried about winning the Mexican Grand Prix when he heard about the other Renault powered cars retiring from the race.
The Red Bull driver had a comfortable win at the Mexico City after snatching the lead from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the race. Shortly after, the German and his championship rival Lewis Hamilton had a collision which sent them both to the pits.
After the leaders’ exit, Verstappen raced ahead of Valtteri Bottas to comfortably win the race. But he admitted that watching the four Renault powered cars retiring made him nervous for the rest of the race. Red Bull asked Verstappen to protect his car and they turned down the engine to avoid any potential problems.
“I could see a lot of cars blowing up and retiring so I was definitely a bit worried,” said Verstappen.
“We looked after our engine and everything seemed to work pretty well. I saw on the TV screen [teammate Daniel Ricciardo] had retired and I saw a Toro Rosso on fire.
“I thought ‘oh God, don’t make this happen to me’ – we turned the engine down. I have a new engine so maybe that helped, but Daniel had a new one too.
“I had my bad luck at the beginning of the year so I am very happy that this time nothing happened to me.”
After losing podium at the US Grand Prix, Verstappen was eager to move ahead from the disappointment and the surrounding controversy. This victory got him through that and the Dutchman is happy with his car once again.
“I knew the car was good, but I didn’t know it was going to be this good,” he said, adding that he felt a “light brush,” with Vettel at the start.
“After last week I was fired up and motivated to do well, and after yesterday I was giving it everything.
“I missed out on pole but I was determined to win this race, I gave it my all at the start and Turn 1.
“I had a great slipstream and was able to get alongside [Vettel] on the outside, we had a little touch, but from then onwards I could do my own race.”
Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg from Renault, Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull and Brendon Hartley from Toro Rosso were all forced to retire due to engine problems at the Mexican Grand Prix.
