Max Verstappen hails Red Bull after "tough" grand slam success

Max Verstappen during the race in Imola — Photo: © LAT Images

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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Verstappen hails Red Bull after "tough" grand slam success

Red Bull driver completed pole, victory, fastest lap at Imola

Will Gray

Sunday 24 April 2022 17:00

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Max Verstappen praised his Red Bull team for a “strong weekend” but said he still had to battle hard to achieve a ‘grand slam’ at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday.

Verstappen closed the gap on championship leader Charles Leclerc after his Ferrari rival made an unusual mistake and spun off at the Variante Alta, recovering to finish only sixth.

With his success, Verstappen secured a rare grand slam by scoring pole, the victory and the fastest lap whilst leading all 63-laps.

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Verstappen said: “It’s always tough to achieve something like that, but already yesterday and the day before we were on it and it was looking like a strong weekend.

“Today, you never know with the weather how competitive you are going to be but I think as a team we did everything well and I think this one-two is very deserved.”

Verstappen – tough to dicate pace

Verstappen looked always in control and the one-two finish for Red Bull was a boost for the team in the constructors’ battle, while the Dutch driver is now 27 points behind Leclerc.

Having suffered from a sluggish start in the sprint race on Saturday, Verstappen knew it was important to get clean off the line and he added: “The start was very important but also afterwards judging the conditions and when to swap to the slick tyres and on the out lap with the slick tyres not to make mistakes.

“In the lead you always have to dictate the pace and it is always a bit more difficult initially but everything was well managed.”