Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admits he was “very surprised” that Ferrari avoided fitting the Medium tyre to Charles Leclerc’s car for the Mexico City Grand Prix restart.

Max Verstappen had immediately got ahead of polesitter Leclerc at the start, stretching out a 4.6s lead by the time he pitted for the Hard compound at the end of Lap 19.

Ferrari, however, extended Leclerc’s first stint until Lap 32, one lap before its attempt to prolong a one-stop strategy was negated by Kevin Magnussen’s high-speed shunt.

Horner has echoed Verstappen’s admission that Red Bull had been angling for a two-stop prior to the race being suspended on Lap 35 to repair the damaged barrier at Turn 9.

Asked if a two-stop strategy had been Red Bull’s pre-race arrangement, Horner said: “Yeah. So we went aggressive today. The compounds had stepped down a compound.

“A one-stop felt, you’re hanging on a bit, so we felt we’d attack the race, and Max was very keen to do an attacking strategy even if he conceded track position to be on the right tire. And that was the plan from Friday.”

Like Red Bull with Verstappen, Ferrari opted to leave Leclerc on the Hard for the restart amid concerns over tyre degradation.

However, the Monegasque driver struggled on the white-walled compound, eventually succumbing to Lewis Hamilton on Mediums on Lap 40 and trailing home a distant third.

After Leclerc had managed to run almost half the race on the Medium, Horner says he was certain Ferrari would revert back to the middle-range tyre to attack Verstappen.

“That red flag was at the worst possible time in the middle of a two-stop. It neutralizes the race, and of course we’ve only got a Hard set of tires,” Horner explains.

“We thought Leclerc after that long first stint, I was convinced they’d take a set of Mediums because it’s worth about five meters off the start line. I was very surprised they went with the Hard tyre. You saw the Medium on Hamilton, and he was OK in the end.”

Although Ferrari reassured Leclerc that Hamilton’s Medium tyre would drop away, the Briton extended the gap in the closing laps and set the fastest lap on his final tour.

Having stormed to pole position on Saturday, Leclerc concedes that Ferrari’s troubles on the harder compound exposed the continued inconsistency of its SF-23 car in race trim.

“I think it still confirms the weaknesses of our car, where it’s a very peaky car,” he addressed. “And whenever we get out of the optimal window of the car, we are losing too much time. And that’s exactly what happened on the Hard.

“At first, I thought I could do quite a good job once we stopped. But then there was a red flag, the tyres cooled down, we went back out and the feeling was just not the same and I couldn’t find the feeling again with the tyres.

“So it’s a bit of a shame because before that it was really good, especially on the Medium. But we’ll look into it, again, on the Hard to try and understand what went wrong there, in order to improve that in the future.

“But I think short term, there’s no big fixes. I think every time we are, as I said, a bit out of the optimal window, we lose too much time.”

Max Verstappen says it would’ve been “interesting” to see how his two-stop strategy would have unfolded without the mid-race stoppage in the Mexico Grand Prix.

Starting third, Verstappen executed an excellent launch to slice in between the Ferraris, positioning his car to the inside on the approach to Turn 1 to seize the lead.

Verstappen had extended his advantage over Charles Leclerc to 4.6s when Red Bull pitted him to discard his Medium tyres for a set of the Hard compound at the end of Lap 19.

Having saved two brand-new sets of Hards, the Dutchman reveals that securing first place at the start initially aided his prospects as he was always intending to stop twice.

“I think that start definitely made it a bit easier for me in the first stint as well,” he said. “Also, because I was going to do a two-stop, so that, of course, gave me those extra couple seconds that would look great on the plot anyway, if we would have made it happen.

“So, yeah, just the tyres around here, it’s always very hard to manage, but I think we had quite decent pace in them. And then of course, we opted to box a bit earlier. And yeah, I think also on the Hard tyre, we were quite competitive, and I closed a lot of that pit stop back down.”

Emerging in seventh, Verstappen had scythed through the cars ahead yet to pit, resuming in the lead once Leclerc, who had run a longer stint, finally pitted on Lap 32.

One lap later, however, Kevin Magnussen’s high-speed shunt into the barrier at Turn 9 prompted the Safety Car to intervene before being upgraded to a full red flag stoppage.

“I think it would have been quite interesting to the end, you know, to see how much faster I could have gone a new set of Hard tyres,” he added. “Yeah, I think the strategy was looking great.

“But then, of course, we had the red flag. So basically, everything that we did, we could throw in the bin and start over.”

Despite remaining on the Hard tyre he had fitted before the suspension, Verstappen nailed the second start of the race to comfortably retain the lead into Turn 1.

“It was all about having a good start and trying to keep the lead into Turn 1, which we did,” he continued. “And after that it was just pace management to the end to keep the tyres alive, looking after the car, the brakes, you know, everything.”

He added: “Well, for me, it was quite clear that we had to do the last stint on that Hard tyre. Luckily, it had only done one lap. So that helped.

“But of course in the start, normally, the Hard tyres is a bit more difficult to get off the line, but we actually had quite a decent start on that tyre as well.”

Although Lewis Hamilton on the Medium compound overhauled Leclerc, Verstappen progressively increased his superiority to take the chequered flag with a 13.8s margin.

The three-time champion’s fifth victory in Mexico City also marked his 16th win of the 2023 season, surpassing the record number that he managed to achieve last season.

“It’s been another incredible season. I mean, the car has been unbelievable to drive in most places,” he exclaimed. “So, you know, when you then, as a team, work really well together and you try not to make too many mistakes over the whole season, then you can achieve something like this.

“So of course, I’m very proud of the achievement, because I think after last year, when I won 15, I was like, ‘well, if I can ever try and replicate something like that, I will be very happy’ and now we are here with 16.

“So yeah, just very happy with everyone’s performance in the team, you know, for the whole year for basically not making a lot of mistakes.”

Lewis Hamilton admits that he tried to chase down Max Verstappen at one stage during the Mexico City Grand Prix but relented once he realised the Red Bull was “cruising”.

Starting sixth, Hamilton immediately gained a position after Sergio Perez clashed with Charles Leclerc at the first turn before displacing Daniel Ricciardo on Lap 11.

Having latched onto the back of Carlos Sainz, Hamilton successfully undercut the Ferrari prior to the race being stopped on Lap 33 due to Kevin Magnussen’s Turn 9 crash.

The Briton took advantage of running the Medium tyre for the remainder to overhaul Charles Leclerc shortly after the restart to cement his finishing position of second.

Reflecting on his charge to the podium, Hamilton said: “Yeah, great day. I was not expecting to be up here with these guys.

“Difficult weekend, it started out, but yeah, I just kept my nose clean at the beginning of the race and then just really trying to manage the tyres and maximise and progress forwards.

“And when I noticed that I had the pace on Carlos, I knew that with the undercut, it really worked quite well. So, the team did a great job I think with strategy.

“And then of course the red flag probably played into our hands in terms of getting onto the fresher tyre at the end. But I just I didn’t know if whether or not the Medium would make it that long.

“I was trying to see if I could close the gap to Max but he was long gone and I could only just about equal his times. But great result for the team, really proud of everyone.”

Despite running a softer compound of tyre and being situated on the clean side of the grid, Hamilton was unable to get by Leclerc on the run down to Turn 1 on the restart.

After remaining in close proximity to the Ferrari for several laps, Hamilton utilised the slipstream and DRS to slip up the inside of Leclerc into the first corner on Lap 40.

Hamilton asserts that he virtually “pressed every button on the steering wheel” in order to mitigate the substantial time loss Mercedes was spurning on the straights.

“Yeah, honestly, this weekend, we’ve been very, very slow on the straight,” he explained. “In general, we’ve were quite draggy on the straights more often than not but this weekend, you know, like yesterday, we were losing like two-and-a-half tenths just into Turn 1 before we even start braking.

“So, these guys were very slippery on the straights so, trying to follow closely through Turns 16 and 17 was, was really the only way that I could get close enough and have an opportunity to make the DRS impactful.

“And finally, I pressed every button on the steering wheel, maximum power. And I didn’t know how far across he was going to go. But split second decision, I decided to go to the right. There’s just enough space there but Charles was really fair. But yeah, great racing.”

Hamilton revealed that using “sweet finesse” was the key to him preserving his Medium tyres to the end to maintaining the advantage he had built up over Leclerc.

The seven-time World Champion disclosed that he did push on in an attempt to reduce the deficit to Verstappen, but he swiftly figured the Dutchman was coasting.

Asked if his successful attempt at the fastest lap on the final tour suggested he could have extracted more from the last stint, Hamilton said: “Yeah, for sure. I could have pushed a little bit harder but I did at one time try to see, okay, I think I’ve saved enough, let me see if I can try and close this gap to Max.

“I think it was like 10 laps to go, and I did a 22.0 and Max did a 21.9. I was like, ah, I’ll leave it. He was just cruising at 21.9. So yeah, so I thought I’d leave it there.

“And also, I had to be cautious, just careful because obviously my tyres… if I really pushed them for the last 10 laps, they probably would have opened up, and who knows, maybe Charles would have caught me up. So, I just had to be cautious with that.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Max Verstappen have defended Sergio Perez’s attempted move at Turn 1 on the first lap that sent him out of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Starting third and fifth, both Red Bulls got away excellently from the grid enabling Verstappen to slice in between the Ferraris and Perez to utilise the slipstream ahead.

As Verstappen positioned his car to the inside to gain the high ground, Perez swung to the outside of polesitter Charles Leclerc to make it three abreast into the first turn.

But the Ferrari driver was caught in between the two Red Bulls, resulting in contact that sent Perez momentarily into the air and damage that brought his race to an end.

After Perez conceded that his approach was centred on gunning for victory, Horner believes that “you can’t blame” the Mexican for trying to seize the lead at his home event.

“Yeah, absolutely two contrasting emotions,” Horner said. “One absolutely gutted to see Checo go out on the first corner. He had probably his best start of the season, got the draft and the tow from the three cars ahead, and so arrived with massive overspeed.

“And you can’t blame him at his home race, going to try and take the lead of the grand prix. I think you have to call it a racing incident, because three into one doesn’t go. Charles couldn’t get out of it, he braked late.

“So yeah, frustrating for Checo and really disappointing for his fans to lose him at the first corner. And the guys did their best to get him back out. But there was just too much damage to the floor and the underbody of the car. Charles is in a bit of a Red Bull sandwich.”

Horner added: “It’s a tough moment for him. It’s in front of his home crowd, he’s very emotional. And yeah, just said to him, next race next week, you’re going for the lead in your home race, you wouldn’t be a racing driver if you weren’t going for it.”

Although Verstappen insists that Perez potentially could have afforded more room on the outside, the Dutchman has also sympathised with his team-mate’s situation.

“I understand [the move] because it’s his home Grand Prix,” he noted. “You want to be on the podium, I fully understand that he went around the outside and he tried.  

“Looking, of course, at the footage, I think he could have left a little bit more space but on the other hand if it would have worked, you look amazing. I think it’s just more that excitement of wanting to be on the podium and this time it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”

Verstappen admits that it was only until he saw the footage in the cooldown room post-race that he understood the chaos that had materialised to his left at the first turn.

“At the time, I didn’t really see a lot,” he professed. “At one point, I just saw that a car was a bit flying in the air, but then I saw the footage after the race and then you can comment on it.

“But while driving it’s a bit hard because I was mainly focusing on Charles, because I couldn’t see what was happening on the outside.”

Verstappen eventually survived a mid-race red flag restart to notch a record-breaking 16th win of 2023 by a comfortable 13.8s margin over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Horner is convinced that Perez would have accompanied his team-mate on the podium without the extensive damage that prevented Red Bull from returning him to the track.

“I think he would have been on the podium for sure today,” Horner relayed. “That was never in doubt. It’s a big loss for him today here with obviously a car that was capable of being on the podium.”

Max Verstappen has led calls for FIA intervention to prevent incidents of impeding in the pitlane following qualifying for Formula 1’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and George Russell all faced stewards’ investigations for potentially impeding competitors in the pitlane during Q1 on Saturday.

All three drivers were later cleared without punishment, allowing Verstappen to take up his third-place starting berth for today’s race.

However, the Dutchman has been left bemused by the logic behind the introduction of a minimum lap-time which he feels has contributed to the issue.

Verstappen faced an investigation for an almost identical incident in Singapore for which he received a reprimand for his actions. The stewards later backed the decision in Japan as the practice is not explicitly banned but called upon the FIA to consider introducing such a regulation.

After a trial in Monza, as of the Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA now enforces a maximum lap-time delta for all laps completed during qualifying which further complicates the issue.

“I think it’s all imperfect at the moment. So, we need to come up with something else, but it’s hard,” Verstappen said of the latest incident in Mexico.

“The thing I don’t understand is like everyone is trying to make a gap now in the pit lane, which is the only place where we can do so. I don’t really understand how you can be impeding someone.

“That’s basically what everyone has been doing, so I’m surprised. I don’t think I did anything weird or wrong. I think we have to be a little bit more lenient with that, knowing that it’s a safe environment.

“I mean, we’re driving really slow, it’s the only place where we can make a gap because we drive out of the box and, of course, we are in the beginning of the pitlane, we didn’t know what other people are doing.”

“It’s just that we need that gap, the six to eight seconds. That’s why now it’s moved to the pit lane instead of the track, which in most cases, of course, is a safer scenario but clearly it still brings some kind of problems as well.”

On grounds of safety, the FIA agreed with Verstappen’s complaints and admitted that the maximum lap-time delta was partly to blame for the pit-lane fiasco on Saturday.

Maximum lap-times are measured between the two safety car lines, the first of which is at the end of the pit exit.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella also weighed in on the discussion calling for “immediate action” to be taken.

“I think immediate action needs to be taken. It’s not a good spectacle. It makes the operations very difficult,” Stella asserted.

“You send your car and you actually don’t know when your car is going to get on track.  It puts all drivers too much at the mercy of the other drivers. And this for me starts to be unfair.

“We need to create policy aspects and ruling aspects to control the situation, which I think is just inappropriate.”

Max Verstappen says he was unable to usurp the Ferrari drivers with his final qualifying attempt at the Mexico City Grand Prix as he had “no tyres left” in the last sector.

The three-time World Champion had led all three practice sessions and fronted the times in Q1, only being displaced at the end of Q2 when others conducted second runs.

However, Red Bull and Verstappen were stumped in the opening exchanges of Q3 by Ferrari, who had appeared to have been lagging behind throughout the weekend.

Verstappen eventually came up 0.097s short of Charles Leclerc’s pole time, leaving him third for Sunday’s 71-lap encounter.

Asked how surprised he was by Ferrari’s pace, Verstappen said: “I mean, it’s always difficult to tell, you know? I’m not part of their team, so I don’t know what’s going on.

“But yeah, I personally just expected it to be a little bit better in evolution through qualifying from our side. And I think that’s what we were lacking a little bit.

“I think Q1 was okay, Q2 wasn’t too bad but then it just seemed to like, fall away from us, like the improvements were not big enough, coming into Q3.”

Verstappen acknowledged the difficulty in nailing the “perfect lap” at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, citing that overheating his rear tyres dented his hopes of pole.

“But this track is also extremely difficult in qualifying, to basically almost, let’s say, hit the perfect lap. Because it’s so low grip, if you tried to push a little bit more, you might overheat the tyres, or you have a little slide.

“And that’s, I think, what happened to me today, where I tried to find a little bit more time, but then the balance wasn’t exactly there,” he explained. “And then you’re sliding, you overheat your tyres, and then in the last sector, you have no tyres left. And that’s basically a bit I think what happened.

“Yeah, it’s just this track is very, very difficult to put a perfect lap together.”

With neither of the front two ahead improving on their final tours, Verstappen was on course to beat the Ferrari duo when he went fastest through the second sector.

But the Dutchman couldn’t carry that momentum through the final stage, winding up less than a tenth adrift after failing to set a personal best in the last phase of the lap.

“I still felt quite bad in the middle sector! I was sliding around quite a bit,” he added. “So again, yeah, I mean, I tried to get a bit of time back. My first sector wasn’t probably ideal. I mean, I improved a bit but not enough.

“But yeah, it’s just feeling, and then around here, when you slide a bit too much, like I said, it doesn’t come together. And yeah, when it’s so tight, you know one or two-tenths can be easily found or lost and I think that’s what happened in qualifying.”

However, Verstappen remains optimistic about overhauling the Ferraris to triumph for a fifth time in Mexico, which would also secure him a record-breaking 16th win of 2023.

Pressed on his confidence for the grand prix, Verstappen replied: “Good. I also have two Hard tyres. So, nobody else has them, really around me. So that’s also maybe an advantage for tomorrow. But yeah, again, I mean, a lot can happen into Turn 1 already.”

Indeed, his first opportunity to at least split the Ferraris will come on the long run down to Turn 1, which he utilised to slingshot from third to first against the Mercedes’ in 2021.

But the Red Bull ace has poured cold water on the chances of him replicating that start.

“I always learned that you can never repeat the same start from when I was little,” he addressed. “Of course, you can look at it but every year is very different.

“It depends on how good your actual start is, then the line to the first corner…  there’s a lot that comes into play. Track conditions as well, for example.

“So it is more just an instinct and once you do your start, you make your mind up of what you’re going to do.”

Red Bull has organised bodyguards to shadow Max Verstappen during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend amid security concerns in the country’s capital.

Claiming a record-equalling 15th win of the season, Verstappen was booed when he took to the top step of the podium in Austin before chants of “Checo” [nickname of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez] could be heard around the Circuit of the Americas.

In response to the perceived hostility towards the three-time champion, Verstappen will be shadowed by two bodyguards in the Mexico City paddock.

Despite the extra measures taken by the team, Verstappen holds no concerns going into the race weekend.

“Yeah, I have a bit more security here, but there are always a few countries around the world where it’s very busy, also here in the paddock,” he said.

In 2022, overcrowding at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez led to security issues with several drivers harried and accosted when moving between the paddock and garages. The promoters of the event have made changes ahead of this weekend in an effort to minimise any risks for drivers.

“Last year, it was really, really busy to get from your hospitality to your garage. It just helps to make it all a bit smoother on-track, off-track, travelling from your hotel and stuff like that.

“[We will do it] whenever we think it’s just helping the general flow of the weekend.

“I feel very safe. [Wednesday] I had a whole marketing day, and it’s been honestly a great reception here like I always had. It’s good to be back.”

Promoters of the Mexican Grand Prix are leading a ‘Racepect’ campaign aimed at promoting tolerance and respect to all those involved in the race weekend in response to “a growing number of incidents that have ranged from spectators booing drivers to discriminatory comments”.

Home hero Perez has also joined calls for respect, asking Mexican fans to “support the whole Red Bull Racing Team, not just me.”

Picking up just two of Red Bull’s 17 grand prix victories in 2023, Perez will be hoping to put on a performance in front of the home fans as he is yet to shake pressure and questions concerning his future with the team.

Verstappen, who has spent the vast majority of the season unrivalled, denied claims of ‘made up’ tension between Perez and himself.

“Checo and I, we get on really well. For us, I don’t think there is any rivalry,” Verstappen contended.

“Of course as a driver on-track, you always like to be first or to be faster. I think we have a lot of respect for each other, and we appreciate each other’s performances. I think it’s a good thing that it maybe starts here now. It’s not only here.

“In general, I think the behaviour of the crowd in some places I think can be a bit better. For example in Austin maybe it was a bit [to do with me?] but in general, I think the behaviour of supporting your favourite driver is fine, but then I think you also have to respect the competition.

“But this is not only in our sport. It’s a general problem in a lot of sports that I think needs to be looked at, and needs to be improved.

“Luckily, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media because it’s quite a toxic place. People who don’t need to show their face or whatever, they can say whatever they want. And again, this is not only in our sport, it’s in a lot of different sports, the same problem, or in general.

“I think it needs to be much better regulated what can be said and done, and written to people in general.

“I stay neutral in everything – In winning, in losing, in these kind of scenarios, I think for me that definitely works the best.

“I’m there to win, I’m there to perform, and as long as I can look at myself that I did the best I could and I’m there standing with the trophy, then that’s it for me. That’s what’s most important for me at the end of the weekend.”

Max Verstappen insists that Ferrari and Mercedes should have had both cars checked for plank wear after each having one driver disqualified in the United States Grand Prix.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified once post-race checks discovered their cars failed to comply with the regulations governing plank wear.

Despite many drivers – including Verstappen – complaining about the bumps at the Circuit of the Americas, the FIA maintained its usual protocol of only checking four cars.

Therefore, the sister Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was promoted up to a podium place in third, while George Russell moved up to seventh.

Hamilton revealed that he had been informed other cars would have failed the test, prompting him to suggest that a “better structure” should be implemented to ensure that other drivers can’t “get away with it”.

Asked whether the FIA should adopt a policy of analysing every car post-race or not at all, Verstappen contended: “Ah but then you get the race result on Tuesday, I guess, when you have to check out the car. The problem is that it’s just impossible to check everything, but I think the thought process from every team is that no one wants to be illegal. So no one sets up the car to be illegal.

“But then of course you have these random checks that get carried out. Sometimes it’s the top four, sometimes it’s in the middle of the field, the back. That’s just how it goes. You can’t check every car for every single part of the car. Otherwise we need 100 more people to do these kind of things.”

While Verstappen understands why every car can’t be examined, the Dutchman believes both of one team’s cars should be investigated if one has breached the rules.

“I think the only thing is when you check one car of the team and it’s illegal, then I think you should check the other one as well,” he continued. “That for me is the only thing. Otherwise you DQ one, and the other one moves up one position, when normally you always run quite similar setups.”

Verstappen has also criticised the Sprint format once again, asserting that the entire issue would have been avoided if the teams were granted more than one practice hour before locking in their chosen set-ups for the weekend under parc ferme regulations.

“I think we should just get rid of the Sprint weekend, and then everyone can set up their cars normally,” he argued. “Because it wouldn’t have happened if we would have had a normal race weekend I think.

“These things only happen really I think when you have a Sprint weekend when everything is so rushed in-between FP1 and qualifying, you think ‘uhhh I think we might be OK’. From our side, I think we went a bit too conservative, but that of course is still better than the other way.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella admits that Max Verstappen’s “below expectation” pace in the early stages of the United States Grand Prix gave it hope of victory.

Starting second, Lando Norris seized the lead away from the line and led the way until Verstappen, who lined up sixth, assumed first place into Turn 12 on Lap 27 out of 53.

McLaren responded by shortening Norris’ second stint, but the Briton struggled with tyre degradation in the closing laps and was overhauled by a charging Lewis Hamilton.

Stella asserts that McLaren’s strategy was centred around gunning for the victory, which evaded Norris by 10s as he was promoted up to second once Hamilton was disqualified.

“So on Lando’s side, we thought that the only first of all, we wanted to go for the victory,” he said. “So the only way to do that was try to go as fast as possible. Let’s see if the tyres are consistent or not.

“There’s no point in just taking care of tyres and then, you know, being just slow from a lap time point of view to achieve a certain strategy.

“And in the second stint, in the first stint, we worked very well. In the second stint, this meant that at some stage once Verstappen was close to us and then we were under attack. We couldn’t defend. And then we lost a little bit the tyres.

“So we pitted onto the second set of Hard. We tried to go as fast as possible because we knew that Hamilton would have been a problem at the end and even in this case, Hamilton had the better pace but also better consistency on the tyres.

“So from the point of view of pure lap time and from the point of view of degradation, we still have some work to do. But at the same time, we are very encouraged that we were in condition to think about going for the victory just by going as fast as possible.”

Stella concedes that McLaren’s dreams of achieving the side’s first win since 2021 were heightened by the slow initial progress Verstappen made through the top order.

Whilst Verstappen cantered to a dominant victory from the front in Saturday’s Sprint event, the Dutchman was hampered by race-long brake issues during Sunday’s encounter.

But Stella believes that Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez only managing to climb from ninth to fifth demonstrates that the Austrian camp didn’t possess too much pace in hand.

“In the first stint I thought Verstappen’s pace was below my expectations, I thought he would be making ground more rapidly,” Stella revealed. “That’s actually what gave us a little bit of, you know, fluctuating situation that ‘oh, maybe today we can do it because he doesn’t seem to be too quick’.

“Then once we went on to the Hard tyres and he was underneath him, it wasn’t like he was quick because of the car, I think quicker than he was in the first stint and he was potentially quicker because of the tyres.

“I think probably the Medium tyres were the better tyres today than the Hard, because degradation was high, but the tyres could do a long enough stint to do a good two-stop race on two Medium tyres.

“I’m not sure about how much lap time he needed to give up because of managing the problem with the brakes, this one I absolutely have no idea. I think we could see throughout the weekend that Hamilton was very quick and I’m not sure.

“It all depends on how much Verstappen was holding because of the brakes. But if we look at that it’s not like Perez was flying at the same time. ​​So potentially at this event let’s say Mercedes was as quick as Red Bull.”

Asked if the result would have been different if Norris had a second set of new Medium tyres, Stella retorted: “I don’t think the result would have been different because Hamilton and Verstappen were too quick for us. But possibly we could have stayed in the game a little longer.”

Max Verstappen has urged Red Bull to get on top of the race-long brake issues that hampered him during the United States Grand Prix.

Starting sixth, Verstappen was able to progress his way through the field to take a lead by Lap 27 that he converted into the 50th victory of his Formula 1 career.

But Verstappen was made to work for his latest triumph, overcoming the threat posed by Lando Norris before surviving a late onslaught to pip Lewis Hamilton by 2.2s.

The Dutchman repeatedly complained about complications with his brakes that denied him from extracting the same searing pace he had displayed in Saturday’s Sprint race.

“I made a good start and in the first stint I tried to be patient but at the same time following for so long did hurt my tyres a little bit,” Verstappen reflected.

“But at the same time, I was struggling a lot with the brakes compared to yesterday, so I couldn’t really be that nice to the tyres under braking, just being very inconsistent.

“That basically carried on for the rest of the race, which compared to yesterday that was quite a big factor because I never really had a lot of confidence to be consistent under braking.

“But, nevertheless, I think as a team we did the right strategy, we pitted at the right time, and basically because of that I could work my way forward. I think we did everything correct today but I was hoping for a little bit more pace because I think yesterday we were a lot more competitive.”

Verstappen reveals that Red Bull had changed the brakes on his RB19 overnight, which likely contributed to the problem.

Asked when the trouble occurred, Verstappen replied: “Just lap one. It was the only thing that we changed from yesterday. That made it very difficult, I couldn’t get on top of it.

“It’s very rare that I have it in F1, but today it did come up and it just made it a bit more difficult.”

Verstappen contends that he was surprised by the difficulty he encountered, adding that it impacted his ability to preserve his tyres throughout the entire 57-lap encounter.

“I just couldn’t feel the brakes, I very easily locked the fronts and I tried to adjust it and was locking the rears,” he explained. “It was something very weird because normally I never really have issues with the braking.

“So this is just something we need to understand why that was today, because when you are locking the fronts or rears you are also killing your tyres so that definitely didn’t help compared to yesterday. Because yesterday the feeling I had with the car was really amazing but today it was not that great, but nevertheless we still won the race.”

Verstappen was heard telling his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase not to issue him with instructions whilst under braking.

The 26-year-old has downplayed the in-race discussion, insisting that he made the series of requests in a polite manner.

“On the speaking under braking, when you’re struggling already under braking and you’re not that confident I politely asked not to be spoken to,” Verstappen addressed.

“You’re laughing there but I said ‘please’ when I asked!”

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner confirmed that Verstappen’s pace was handicapped by the brakes because it also began to impact his tyre temperatures.

Horner relays that Red Bull’s data traces confirmed the only areas the three-time champion was losing out to team-mate Sergio Perez came in the braking zones.

“As soon as you start managing that issue, it interferes with your tyre temperatures and everything else. So I thought he did a very good job to do that,” Horner added.

“Difficult to predict what it cost in pace, but you could see he didn’t enjoy the same advantage of pace, if you like that he had yesterday.

“I think it was [evident] throughout the race. It was from very early in the first [stint]. He just wasn’t getting the same feeling from the brake pedal that he had previously, and certainly you could see Checo’s pace was strong again today.

“And all the deficits as you heard GP [Gianpiero Lambiase] say to him were in the braking zone, so for sure there was a bit left on the table today.”