Max Verstappen impressed by managing to recover from his high-speed spin at the start of the Miami Grand Prix in Formula 1. Martin Brundle did not miss the opportunity to praise the Red Bull driver.
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As soon as the lights went out, the four-time world champion lost control of the car at the second corner, dropping to the back of the pack, appearing in tenth. In a rare mistake from the Dutchman, the ex-F1 driver insisted it was just a miscalculation with the throttle.
“On a completely dry track, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, starting third, was side by side with Max Verstappen at the exit of turn 1, even with Antonelli, who started on pole position, having made a reasonable start this time,” he wrote in his column for Sky F1.
“Squeezed to the apex of turn 2 by Leclerc, Verstappen accelerated too early and spun, an unusual mistake for him, for which he quickly apologized to the team on the radio,” he continued.
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Heading into the middle of the pack, Brundle was impressed by how Verstappen managed to avoid collision with the other rivals. “Before that, we saw a bit of his brilliance in the recovery,” he said.
“At the front of the entire pack, except Leclerc, he masterfully used the throttle, brakes, and steering wheel to execute a full 360-degree spin, pointing precisely to the track and somehow maintaining some speed. I can’t describe how difficult that is in these huge, fuel-laden F1 cars, in the heat of battle,” he continued.
“This drastically minimized the chances of being hit and kept him in ninth place at the end of the lap. Eager to recover, he had more than a few fierce battles with the midfield pack. Red Bull called him into the pits on lap seven to put on new hard tires so he could finish the race, due to the Safety Car deployment for two separate incidents,” he concluded.
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