No party for Verstappen tonight: "I think I'll go to sleep"

Max Verstappen took his eighth win of the season in Austin, extending his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the battle for the world title to 12 points. It looked like he was going to lose the race at the start, but thanks to an aggressive strategy he managed to win the race.

Mercedes fast on the hard tyre

In front of the Ziggo Sport camera, Verstappen agrees that today was not easy. "It looked good on the medium tyres, only on the hard tyre Mercedes had a bit more speed. We were aggressive with the strategy, that's why we got in front. Only every time at the end of the stint I had very few tyres left. It worked out just well enough."

After the first corner, Hamilton was ahead. "I thought I had a reasonable start, but he had a very good start. Then of course you have to give up. But I soon saw that the speed was good on the medium tyre. So we came in very aggressively. That was a logical decision in itself, but then you have to keep it up at the end. It was a bit tricky.

Verstappen focuses on himself

The Dutchman felt no extra pressure today when he had to leave his big rival ahead at the start. "I can't change anything about it anyway. I just had to pay attention to myself and not make any mistakes. That was very important."

At the end of the race, Hamilton came close to the Dutchman again. "Those last few laps I saw that I came out of turn one well and didn't lose too much time in the fast corners. Only with two laps to go, I got that Haas in front of me and I lost a bit of time with that in the beginning of the third sector. In the end, it all worked out well, but that did make that last lap a bit more exciting."

Mexico and Brazil crucial

Verstappen has a nice lead in the championship but especially wants to grab even more of a lead in the next two races. "That's what we're trying to do in any case. I'm very happy that we've run up points again here, where of course you can also just fall behind. In Mexico and Brazil, we have to try to take the advantage. Those two races are crucial for us before the end of the championship." Whether Verstappen will still celebrate his victory with a beer? "I don't think so. I think I'm going to have a nice sleep."