Sebastian Vettel has urged Max Verstappen to smash his tally of 13 Grand Prix wins in a single season after the Red Bull driver set a new Formula 1 record in the Mexican Grand Prix. Verstappen's victory in Mexico was his 14th of the season, eclipsing the 13-win record jointly held by Michael Schumacher and Vettel, achieved in 2004 and 2013 respectively. It was also Verstappen's eighth win in nine races, with a seventh place in Singapore the only race he has not won since coming second in Austria on July 10th. Post-race, Vettel was happy that Verstappen had broken his record, and challenged him to achieve a total of 16 victories by winning the remaining two races of the season.
Vettel on Verstappen's record
"Well done [to him]," Vettel told media including RacingNews365.com after his own 14th place finish. "I think he's had a hell of a season, so hopefully he goes on and get 16 [wins] by the end of the year, because anything else will be a disappointment. "It is great for [Red Bull] and I still know some people there, so I am really happy for them. "Obviously they have a lot of momentum from last year and the car this year is incredible. "They won races even though they were heavier than anybody else, and I think now they've finally got the weight out. "So the car is there, but Max is doing an amazing job as well."
Vettel: Adverse strategy couldn't help us in Mexico
As for his own race, Vettel finished the race ahead of Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll, but the pair completed a low-key race in 14th and 15th places, a contrast to their recent run of point-scoring races. When discussing his own race, Vettel conceded that Aston Martin simply did not understand the performance issues they faced in Mexico. "I know that if I want to go long [on strategy], I can," he explained after a long opening stint on the Soft tyres. "I think managing the tyres after so many years, I probably know what to do, but it didn't help us. I thought it might. "We just did not get the car to switch on and we were slow. It's not like it's unseen in the whole season, but clearly compared to last week [in Austin], there's something we don't understand yet."
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