'Unhuman' Verstappen hails amazing weekend in Shanghai

Max Verstappen was twice a winner at Shanghai International Circuit, sweeping to big victories in both Saturday's Sprint race and then following it up with his fourth Grand Prix win in five races so far in 2024.

Verstappen said it had been an amazing weekend for him and for the team which could hardly have gone better, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreeing and describing the driver's current form as 'unhuman'.

“All weekend I think we were incredibly quick," he told the media in parc ferme after the end of the race. "It was just enjoyable to drive every single compound as well.

"The car was basically on rails, I could do whatever I wanted to with it," he said. "Those kinds of weekends are of course amazing to feel, and of course to achieve what we did this weekend is fantastic.”

Verstappen never looked within reach of his rivals, and had built up a 13 second lead by the time he made his first pit stop of the afternoon on lap 14.

• Read also: Verstappen in a league of his own once again in Shanghai

But that gap was wiped out by the first of two safety cars moment later, and managing the restarts was probably the most crucial part of the afternoon as far as Verstappen was concerned. "I think we survived that well."

And there was a scare toward the end when Verstappen reported running over some debris out on track from a clash between Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen. It raised concerns of the Red Bull suffering a late puncture.

“There was a bit of debris I think from a car. You know when the tyres are getting cold and old it’s very easy to puncture them and I just wanted to double check.

"You always hear noises a little bit," Verstappen said when asked whether such worries had been on his mind during the final laps. "Of course I’ve had it in the past that I’ve retired quite close to the end."

Verstappen is not sated with his success so far and it looking to carry on winning in the next race at Miami in two weeks time, which will be a second consecutive Sprint format weekend.

“It should normally be a good race for us,” Verstappen said. “Normally a little bit more straightforward with the strategy, but it’s always a quite difficult track.

"I’m excited, it’s always quite a crazy weekend there, so it’s going to be quite a busy one," he added.

Verstappen's performance in China was lauded by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who was clearly in awe at the driver's current run of form.

“The team has been outstanding," he told Sky Sports F1. "To win the sprint, get pole position, the front row lockout for the race, then P1 and P3 in the race.

“Max is on another planet. His form is fantastic. It varies from circuit to circuit but he’s totally at one with the machine. He has unbelievable feel and empathy with the car, the feel, the conditions.

“He has confidence in himself. He has ability to understand the tyres, what they need, when they need to be pushed and saved. He has an incredible racing brain. It’s almost unhuman, what he’s capable of. It’s a pleasure to work with. He’s writing history.”

The only fly in the Red Bull ointment was Sergio Perez missing out on P2 to Lando Norris despite a front row start, in large part due to the timing of the two safety car which disrupted pit stop strategy.

"I felt we were unlucky with the safety car but that’s the way it goes," Horner said. "It couldn’t have been worse for us, particularly for Checo. We had to stop again and converge on strategy with a Ferrari and a McLaren, and that dropped Checo’s track position.

“It took him time to get past Charles which took a bit out of his tyres. By the time he cleared Charles, his tyres weren’t in the best shape to hunt down Lando."

But Horner was still happy with the Mexican's performance overall. "[It was] another strong weekend by Perez to get a double-podium," he said.

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