Max Verstappen has expressed relief at escaping from a hair-raising moment en route to his latest F1 success.
From sixth on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix after serving a penalty for a gearbox change, Verstappen took up the lead of the race on lap 17 after easing past Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
A few laps later, and with rain beginning to fall, Verstappen was given a rare scare as for a moment he lost control of his RB19 as he powered out of Eau Rouge up towards Raidillon but was deft enough to make a save that prevented him from crashing out.
Beyond that, it was another consummate drive from Verstappen who scored his eighth consecutive victory to leave him one shy of Sebastian Vettel’s all-time record of nine during the German’s own Red Bull days in 2013.
Reflecting on the incident that almost ended his record bid, Verstappen said: “That’s probably the worst corner to have a moment.
“But it was tricky in those laps when it was raining because you could see it was raining but not how much exactly, and I had the little sideways moment. Luckily nothing happened but it’s definitely a corner where you don’t want it to happen.”
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Conceding to being “caught out”, Verstappen added: “It was just a bit more slippery than I thought it would be.
“It happens, you quickly try to correct it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Luckily, at that speed as well, you have quite a bit of downforce on the car. That helps, but it was not great.”
As to what went through his mind at that moment, Verstappen added with a smile: “A swear word!”
The only other moment of angst for Verstappen was at the start as he watched the drama unfold between Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri in his McLaren, resulting in a collision that ultimately forced both out of the race.
“It was just about surviving Turn 1,” said Verstappen. “I could see that it was all getting really tight.
“I saw Carlos lock up, so you had to go to the inside, but Oscar was there, and then they both went deep into the corner.
“I knew exactly what was going to happen because I had the same thing happen to me in 2016. It’s like, ‘Okay, I’m going to stay out of it and go wide’.
“But then, of course, they had damage, and you have to wait and see what they’re going to do on the exit because I could see Oscar couldn’t really steer anymore.
“We lost a little bit of momentum, but luckily it was all okay. It worked out, and then from there onwards, we made the right overtakes, moves.
“I just got a little bit stuck at the beginning and in a bit of a DRS train but once that cleared, I could do my own pace, and again, it was really enjoyable.”
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