Verstappen wants to replicate his Imola performance at Barcelona
Having failed to finish on the podium at last Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, reigning world champion Max Verstappen is eager to replicate the performance at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix which he displayed at Imola.
The Dutchman qualified fifth, but he moved up the grid thank to a three-place grid penalty for Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen maintained his starting position at the start, and spent the majority on the race behind the trio of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.
However, Red Bull came up with an ambitious strategy that saw Verstappen play the long game. With fifth-place Hamilton having rejoined the track almost 40 seconds behind the race leader following his last pit stop, Verstappen stayed out on the Monte Carlo track until the penultimate lap.
The Dutchman led the race from Norris and Leclerc, and was waiting for a potential red flag period which would have handed him the race victory. However, there was no interruption in the closing stages of the race, and the four-time F1 champion was forced to complete his second and last tyre service on Lap 77, ending the race in fourth place.
Speaking ahead of the last station of the current triple-header, Verstappen stressed that he is eager to replicate the performance at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix which he displayed at Imola.
"Monaco wasn’t the most exciting race for us: we did everything right but ultimately there wasn’t much more we could do in the race following the qualifying result.
"Looking to Spain, the final race of the triple header, we will hopefully see a better performance and something closer to what we had in Imola. I think we should be more comfortable with the car and therefore more competitive.
"The track has a lot of history and has long corners and high speed turns and is always a good circuit to drive. Spain is where I won my first Formula One race so I have many special memories there and hopefully we can maximise our performance as best we can this week."
