Verstappen played a 'waiting game' before Leclerc overtake in F1 sprint

Max Verstappen says he played “a bit of a waiting game” in the first Formula 1 sprint race of the season prior to his race-winning overtake on Charles Leclerc.

After securing his first pole position of the year in qualifying at Imola on Friday, Verstappen made a poor start and lost the lead to Leclerc, initially struggling to stay within one second of the Ferrari driver.

But as the race unfolded, Leclerc began to suffer with tyre graining that saw his pace drop and allow Verstappen’s to close to within DRS range.

The 2021 world champion made his move on the penultimate lap, moving around the outside of Leclerc at Tamburello and pulling away to secure victory in the sprint.

Having become aware of Leclerc’s issues with tyre wear, Verstappen said he had to pick his moment to seize the race lead.

“Charles was definitely struggling more with the graining,” said Verstappen, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “Then of course, I could close up and use the DRS to get by.

“But I think it was more just of a bit of a waiting game, because every lap it seemed like the gap or the difference between the two cars was getting bigger in terms of a lap times.”

While Verstappen noted Red Bull was kinder of its tyres than Leclerc’s Ferrari, he admitted staying within striking distance was not easy.

“Of course, at one point, it’s very tricky once you get around that one second window to get super close,” Verstappen explained.

“Of course with these cars, it is better to follow. But it’s still very hard to pass. You still need to use the tyres and especially with the deg we had on the soft, getting in that DRS window, it was hard.

“But then once I got into it, I think on the second attempt we had a good little battle into Turn 2. But yeah, clearly,