Max Verstappen has offered his reaction to his GT race in Portimao, where the four-time F1 champion finished ninth after a costly penalty to his car.
Verstappen and team-mates Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham started 13th on the grid in Portugal in their Mercedes machine, with Barnicoat and Lulham taking over the first two stints - but during his run, Lulham hit the #48 Mercedes, dumping it in a spin, and earned a drive-through penalty.
Verstappen then assumed control of the #3 for the final stint under the lights, rejoining in 24th place and climbing to ninth overall by the end - including a late pass on Arthur Leclerc, brother of Charles.
Reflecting on his outing, Verstappen declared it was a "positive weekend" despite the penalty.
"All in all, we had a decent weekend," Verstappen began.
"Unfortunately, we made a mistake with the car’s setup during qualifying, causing it to spark just a little too much, which hurt our performance.
"As a result, we didn’t qualify where we should have. We adjusted the setup for the race and were a lot more competitive.
[Then, because of the penalty], I had to fight my way back from 24th position during my stint.
"However, I really enjoyed myself, and our car’s pace was excellent. It was very hectic and chaotic trying to fight my way forward, but in the end we finished ninth, after that drive-through penalty, and I think that’s a very strong performance.
"Although it wasn’t the result we were hoping for, all in all we learned a lot, and it was a positive weekend."
Praise for team-mates
Verstappen also praised the efforts of Barnicoat and Lulham.
"Ben Barnicoat drove a great first stint. He stayed out of the chaos at the start and managed to bring us up to the front of the pack," he said.
"Chris also started his stint very strongly and managed to secure a good starting position. But due to a somewhat opportunistic move against a car in front of us, we rightly received a drive-through penalty."
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