03/11/2020
NEWS STORY
While the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was held behind closed doors, the roar from the Red Bull crew when Max Verstappen finally nailed a struggling Valtteri Bottas went some way to making up for the deafening silence from the grandstands.
Shortly after however, the cheers turned to sighs and groans as the Dutchman spun and went off into the gravel. While it was initially difficult to discern what exactly had happened, it soon became clear the Red Bull driver had suffered a puncture to his right-rear, possibly the result of debris.
"It could have been a very nice P2," said a surprisingly sanguine Verstappen after the race. "The start was good, I got Lewis and was trying to stay with Valtteri.
"We both pitted," he continued, "and I tried to do the undercut. Bottas, I think, had damage on the floor, so we were losing a lot of lap time behind him and I couldn't get close... this track is so hard to pass on!
"Then of course Lewis jumped us, but once I got past Valtteri, the pace was good, the car was feeling good and suddenly on the straight, I lost the car because there was a tyre blow-out.
"I don't exactly know what happened," he added, "but when I quickly looked at the car, there was nothing broken, so it's a big shame."
While the Red Bull was no match for the Mercedes in qualifying, its race pace showed the same promise witnessed in Saturday's practice session.
"It was a very nice race from our side," said Verstappen. "It was a lot more fun as well.
"I was really pushing and trying to stay with the Mercedes and it was a lot of fun out there. So it was a shame, of course, to not be on that podium, but not only not be on that podium but also be second.
"It would have been a great race, but it wasn't meant to be. It is what it is and to score zero points is obviously not what you want but overall the race itself was very positive."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Imola, here.