Max Verstappen says he didn't expect to front run his Mercedes rivals in Sunday's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, but Red Bull's bold tyre strategy worked to perfection for the Dutchman.
The seed of Verstappen's ninth career win in F1 were sowed in Saturday's qualifying session when the 22-year-old relied on Pirelli's hard compound to set his fastest lap in Q2, thus defining the tyre he would start his race on while his rivals launched their race on the medium compound.
Verstappen took the lead when Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton pitted early, the Red Bull charger stretching out his first stint before pitting for a set off mediums.
He caught Bottas and regained the lead but opted for just a brief six-lap stint on the mediums, switching back to the white-walled hard rubber thereafter and regaining command when Hamilton initiated his second tyre change.
As cut and dried as the Dutchman's triumph appeared, it was still a surprising feat for Verstappen.
"I didn't see it coming," Verstappen said. "But after the first stint, it seemed like we were really good on tyres. Of course that is a question mark, how Mercedes is going to go on the hard tyre.
"We had a lot of pace in the car, I didn't really have a lot of tyre issues at all. We just kept pushing, and [it's] an incredible result of course to win here.
"We had a great day. I think everything worked out well we had the right strategy. Everything was running smoothly. I was incredibly happy to win."
©RedBull
In the early stages of the race, as Verstappen was chasing down his Mercedes rivals, the Red Bull pitwall called in, urging their driver to manage hos tyres. Verstappen's reply was explicit.
"This the only chance of being close to the Mercedes, I'm not just sitting behind like a grandma!" he said.
He ultimately had the last word as he sniffed out an opportunity to snatch his first win of the 2020 season.
"We so far [this season] didn't really have an opportunity in all the races to push them, and I could see we were pushing them," Verstappen said.
"So I tried to put the pressure on. They had to pit, and from then onwards, I could do my own pace, and basically built that that advantage to the end."
Queried on his chances of winning again in Barcelona next week, Verstappen replied: "I don't know, I think we do need to use soft tyres, that seems to suit our car," he said.
"But we'll see again in Barcelona. I think at the moment, we are just very happy that we just won."
©RedBull
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