F1 News: Max Verstappen Points Out Key Factors In Loss To Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen knows why and how he lost to Lewis Hamilton in the first major race of the season.

Despite being behind in the final laps of the race, Hamilton managed to rally his way to the top spot and beat Verstappen in the recent Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Red Bull star was ahead of Hamilton with four laps remaining in the race but was forced to give up the lead after running off the track.

After the race, Verstappen pointed out the importance of “track position” apart from having a great car. He also noted that the “wind” also became factor when Hamilton was closing in on him.

“It’s disappointing to be second,” Verstappen told reporters Sunday. “It just shows again that track position is super important, even when you think you have the better tyres.”

“I was closing quite comfortably but then when I got close [to] Lewis, with how the wind was today in those critical low-speed corners, I just had no grip,” he added. “Still better grip than Lewis, but not enough to really make a difference.”

The 23-year-old further revealed that he had one chance to take the lead back. However, he admitted that he “ran a bit wide” in turn four.

“With this car, that advantage goes away very quickly once you get within one and a half seconds,” the Belgian explained. “With these cars, I think the last few years, it is very important to have track position, and we gave that up today.

“That one lap I had a shot at him (Hamilton),” he continued. “I ran a bit wide out of turn four, so I had to give the position back and then it was just impossible any more to really go for it. I was always just too far behind. We’ll analyze what we can do better. Clearly, today showed that track position was key again.”

Verstappen may have the fastest car over the weekend, but Mercedes had endured a series of issues en route to Bahrain.

For Hamilton, the Bahrain Grand Prix victory is just another story of how to “prove people wrong.”

“There are always opportunities to prove people wrong and today is definitely one of them,” the Mercedes star told The Guardian after his first win of the year. “There have been many in the past and I hope there are many in the future to be able to show what I was able to do today. We don’t have the fastest car at the moment, that’s all good for me. I don’t mind having to pull out extra in order to make the difference.”