Max Verstappen names his biggest non-human challenge at Imola which left him 'broken'

Red Bull racing driver Max Verstappen described Imola’s bumpy surface as leaving him feeling “broken” after his victory at the F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver managed to fend off McLaren’s Lando Norris, who mounted a late challenge, finishing less than a second behind Verstappen. 

This win marked Verstappen’s return to form after losing to Norris in Miami. Despite the intense final stint on hard tyres, Verstappen noted that the track’s rough condition posed the biggest challenge. While speaking with media at Imola he said, “I'm just broken from the bumps, to be honest.”

“My back, everything is hurting. It's not so much from the physical side of things, but just it was so bumpy out there. Already after like 20 laps, I could feel my back. So I'm just looking forward to laying in bed. Maybe take some painkillers. And a massage, I don't know…”

Max Verstappen opens up about final lap issues 

Verstappen was further asked if he had a specific problem in the final stint when he was struggling on hard tyres. Verstappen replied: “I just couldn't get the tyres to work. It just felt like they were not operating in the right temperature window. And that just got worse and worse. So the last 15 laps for me was really like driving on ice.” 

“They were not responding anymore. So that's something that we have to analyse. They [Red Bull] updated me, of course, with the track limits, to just be a bit more careful from that point onwards,” he said.

“But the problem was also, I guess, in the beginning, I was understeering a lot on the Medium, and that was pushing me a bit off sometimes if I missed the apex. So after that, on the Hard tyres also, just leaving a bit more margin.”

“Of course, the last few laps when Lando Norris was catching me it was a bit harder because I had to naturally really use the track as much as I could. But we stayed within the lines, but definitely, it does require a bit more focus, of course. Every exit, you have to be sure what you're doing.”