Max Verstappen is only subject to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Max Verstappen is back on the road to success after the failure in Melbourne. The Red Bull driver celebrated his third victory in the fourth race of the season at the Formula 1 race in Japan and, after the “hiccup” (original sound Verstappen) in Australia, showed that Red Bull is still the absolutely dominant force in the premier class is.

The three-time world champion won both starts and seemed to be safe during the race. Teammate Sergio Perez followed him twelve seconds behind, all other competitors crossed the finish line at least 20 seconds after the Dutchman. “It was a very good win,” says Verstappen.

“Whenever I had to go faster, I could do that. And whenever I had to take care of my tires, I could do that too. That’s always a nice feeling.”

Motorsport consultant Helmut Marko was also thrilled after the race: “It was very pleasant,” he said Sky. “We dominated it from the first lap. There was incredible perfection in the pit stops – I think three stops were two seconds. And in terms of strategy and the whole orientation, we were actually always in control.”

Until qualifying, they weren’t at all sure that the RB20 would work so well on Sunday. Red Bull had primarily seen Charles Leclerc as the favorite after his long run on Friday, “but we then made some changes,” says Verstappen.

“Of course I can’t go into details, but it helped today and the car was much nicer to drive and more under control.”

“I don’t want to say I told you so…”

In the meantime, Verstappen’s racing engineer Gianpiero Lambiase caused a smile in this regard when he asked about a “front wing update”. Verstappen replied that he initially had understeer, but it would slowly change to oversteer.

Lambiase’s answer: “Yes, as expected. Thank you.”

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Gianpiero Lambiase is always good for saying something to Verstappen

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Verstappen then said that “one or two clicks less” would be okay, which led Lambiase to say: “I don’t want to say that I told you so, but: Got it, thanks.”

After the race, Verstappen tried to clarify things. “We had, well, no argument, but he said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ And I was sure. But it was wrong, so he was right,” he says, without going into the details.

“But that’s what drives me. Even if I’m not completely happy with the balance, I still try to be as consistent as possible without snapping at him. We have a great relationship and it works well,” said Verstappen about his long-time relationship Race engineer.

The “old married couple”

“Yes, the old couple is coming out again,” jokes Helmut Marko, referring to a statement made a few months ago about the working relationship between Verstappen and Lambiase. “They already know what they do and what Max likes.”

“There was a long discussion beforehand about how many clicks on the front wing we had to change. Max insisted and Gianpiero was happy when it turned out that he was right in the end,” said the Austrian.

Sunday was a bit of a guessing game for the teams, because at more than 20 degrees Celsius it was significantly warmer during the race than on the other days before. “It’s always a little more difficult when you’ve had a certain temperature all weekend and then suddenly it goes up,” says Verstappen.

But after making a few adjustments after his first stint, Verstappen felt even more comfortable in the car and, according to him, it was particularly good on the hard tires in the last stint. “But in general we were competitive on both tires,” he says.

“Very satisfied all around”

And so in the end there was nothing that could stand in the way of the world champion today. “We are very, very satisfied all around,” praises Marko. “And I’m not even talking about the fastest lap with old tires. That was another psychological challenge from Max, I would say. You can see what’s possible.”

The discussions about the wing “didn’t make the race any easier, but we made the right changes,” emphasizes Marko. “And the race is different for Max anyway. He just needs four wheels on the car to win.”

For the second time this season, Verstappen took the maximum points and extended his lead in the World Cup to 13 points. And above all, he showed after Melbourne that Red Bull is still the master of the house, even if he doesn’t want to talk about “relief” when asked about it.

“It’s just nice to win and nice to win here in Japan,” he said. “This is always an important race for us with Honda. Melbourne obviously felt like a hiccup, but what we did today is what we wanted to do and that’s our goal every weekend.”