Max Verstappen played “smart tricks” with DRS to overcome Charles Leclerc
The reigning world champion came out on top of an intense 💜battle with Leclerc to claim his first victory of the season in Jeddah after pulling off a late overtake on the Ferrari driver with four laps to go.
Both drivers tried to work the DRS overtaking zones to their advantage in a game of cat and mouse but Verstappe💮n ultimately prevailed in the enthralling wheel-to-wheel battle to cross the line in first♒ place by just 0.5s.
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"It was🌠 a really tough but a good race. We're battling hard in the front and we just started to play the long game," Verstappen said.
"They were really quick through corners; we were 🐎quick on the straight, but the tyres were wearing out quite quick around here.
"You could see the end I think, we hꦿad a little bit more pace, so I just tried to get by.
"It wasn't easy playing smart tricks in tꦉhe last corner but eventually I managed to🌜 get ahead.
"But then even after that he was constantly in the DRS and then with the yell🎐ow flags in the last lap, just knoꦇwing how much you should lift, whether it's allowed or not.
“It w💮as tough, but really happy that we finally kickstarted the season.”
Verstappen and Leclerc traded places as they tried to outsmart each other at the final corner, with the duo at one stage both♏ suffering lock ups as they almost came to a complete stop in a bid to ensure they had the DRS boost along the main straight.
Having bee💝n outfoxed by Leclerc during two earlier attempts to snatch the lead, Verstappen demonstrated patience to cleverly tuck up behind the Monegasque’s Ferrari coming out of the final corner and finally make a move stick at the start of Lap 47.
“It🎶 seems like once you get quite close, when you get within half a second, you a𒊎ctually can have a good exit," he explained.
"And I think that makes it a lot more tricky to aꦉ🃏ctually do the pass, let's say in the last corner compared to last year, so it's a lot harder to plan your pass.”
Lewis regula𝄹rly attends Grands Prix for wuqian0821.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who m♋atter in the sport.
