Oct.25 (GMM) Max Verstappen may have won the popular vote, but a spotlight is also being shon on another bright performance in Austin last weekend.
The young Dutchman won the official ‘driver of the day’ fans’ vote after the US grand prix, but the Red Bull driver actually had a troubled race.
Bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko were actually openly angry with Verstappen for his unnecessary pitstop.
“We have 80 engineers and strategists, but it’s all useless if a driver decides alone to come into the pits,” Austrian Marko told Bild newspaper.
It was actually a driver in the Red Bull family who finished sixth on Sunday who really got praised.
“I think with performances like Austin, and many other messages he has sent this season, Carlos has a very long future in F1,” Spanish pundit Antonio Lobato told El Mundo.
He is talking about Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, whose famous father with the same name was also impressed.
“I think it was his best race since he has been in F1,” Sainz snr is quoted by Marca.
Red Bull supremo Marko, who did not allow Sainz switch to the works Renault team for 2017, agrees: “It was the best race I’ve seen him do in F1.”
The highlight was Sainz’s duel with his friend and hero Fernando Alonso, causing the Spanish daily AS to say the 22-year-old is a “worthy successor”.
“I think Fernando is still the best driver on the grid,” Sainz said, “but I’m also very happy because I think I put everything I have and more into our fight.”