Maximum stint lengths 'not ideal for us' - Verstappen

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull came under more pressure from McLaren than it normally would have in the Qatar Grand Prix due to the maximum stint lengths imposed.

Pirelli and the FIA opted to mandate a new set of tires could do no more than 18 laps due to concerns over damage to the construction caused by severe curbs at Lusail, essentially forcing at least a three-stop race. That meant drivers had to push throughout stints and not worry about managing tires as they usually would, negating one of Red Bull’s strengths as the two McLarens crossed the line just five seconds behind him.

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“I think what really made my race was that first stint, where I think we were quite strong and good on the tires,” Verstappen said. “After that, because we had a bit of a tire offset, compared to the McLaren, I could drive a bit longer on most of the sets, which maybe in some places, then cost me a bit on the out-lap and stuff. So then sometimes the gap looked a bit closer than it should have been.

“Then on the hard tire, I lost quite a bit of time in the last two, three laps because I had to get through some traffic. And then I had a slow stop as well at the end. So, then they were very close behind me. But overall they have been really quick all weekend. So, I think especially with the fuel coming out, it looked like they were again picking up more and more pace, compared to me.

“Plus, of course, that three stop that was mandatory I think was not ideal for us, personally, because our car is good on tires. So when you need to do longer stints because that's the fastest way around here, it would have probably been a bit better. But it was same for everyone at the end that we had to do those stops. We had to deal with that.

“It made it also probably a bit harder to drive. We had to push quite hard out there, and as you could see after the race a lot of people are quite tired.”

However, Verstappen said the fact that the race situation hurt Red Bull a little shouldn’t detract from the gains being made from McLaren after Oscar Piastri won the Sprint on Saturday.

“Our trend is normally long stints and looking after our tires. This didn't work for us, the stints were too limited, but I do think at one point my engineer told me to speed up a bit and we always had the pace to speed up.

“I just have to re-watch the race a little bit to understand a bit more what was going on behind me. I do think we had a bit more pace in hand if we really needed it but nevertheless, I don't want to take anything away from McLaren. They've been doing a great job and from us, we see that they are getting closer and closer. So we have to try and of course maintain a bit of a gap.”