Max Verstappen expressed frustration following the United States Grand Prix despite finishing in third place at the Circuit of the Americas. The Red Bull driver stated that his team was just a little average during the race after dealing with incorrect tyre choices, power unit problems, and radio issues.
Tyre Strategy and Performance Challenges
Verstappen crossed the finish line 17.5 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli, following victories in the previous two rounds in Malaysia and Singapore. Mercedes driver Antonelli secured the victory from pole position using a one-stop strategy on hard tyres, while Red Bull and Ferrari both opted for a two-stop strategy.
In the post-race press conference, Verstappen explained that the team placed too much trust in what had succeeded during recent weekends. He stated, “In hindsight, of course, it’s very easy to say, but for whatever reason, the softer compounds today were not really working that well. So, yeah, then also I think the way that we used our tyres in the order was wrong.”
He added that competitors running harder compounds found significant grip which Red Bull failed to match. “Just probably sticking too much to our belief from the last two races, where the softer compounds were the fastest, and clearly here that didn’t work,” Verstappen said.
Car Balance and Power Unit Issues
When questioned about Red Bull’s drop in pace compared to recent events, Verstappen noted that the RB22 lacked a defining strength at the Austin track. He explained, “Because I think we are balanced as a car. We are not the fastest in high speed, we’re not the fastest in low speed, and I think maybe here you either need to be very fast in high speed or you need to be the quickest in low speed. When you’re none of it, you’re just a little bit average, and I think we were just a little bit average in the race.”
The Dutchman mentioned that a different strategy could have potentially yielded second place, though power unit inconsistencies created additional hurdles. He noted that power unit issues cost free lap time and prevented the team from operating at the limit. Red Bull now faces multiple areas to review following the weekend’s events.
“That’s a few things to analyse: why these tyres didn’t work as we expected, or why the other tyres performed better than expected. So, yeah, something to learn from,” Verstappen concluded.
