Red Bull racer Max Verstappen's progress at the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix was interrupted by the late race virtual safety car brought out by Carlos Sainz. The Dutch racer came out and invoked memories of AD21 (Abu Dhabi 2021) during the post-race interview when asked about the VSC.
Verstappen kicked off the race in P5 and got up to P4 after closely avoiding the barrier on the exit of Turn 1. However, the Dutchman was the lone racer in the Top 5 on the medium tires and lacked speed compared to those on the soft tires.
Charles Leclerc went on to the medium tires for his last stint, whereas Max Verstappen was on the better soft compound. As an outcome, the Dutch racer caught the Monegasque by over 10 seconds and got into the DRS of the Ferrari with just a couple of laps left.
Sadly for Red Bull, on lap 70, Carlos Sainz spun, parked up in the stadium section, and then his car caught fire, which brought out the virtual safety car. As an outcome, Max Verstappen, who was lining up a move on Leclerc, had to finish at P3.
During the post-race interview, Max Verstappen was asked about what he was thinking when the VSC came out and whether he was angry, to which he responded.
“No, not really. I mean sometimes the safety car has been very nice to me in my career, so sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It's how it goes in racing. Would've been a bit more fun in the end- well, more fun for me than for Charles defending- but it would've been a fun ending for everyone to watch!”
Verstappen's statement regarding the safety car being nice to him refers to the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, where contested with Lewis Hamilton for the championship. The Briton was comfortably in the lead of the race and on his way to the eighth F1 title when a late safety car came out.
Max Verstappen pitted for fresher tires, and the FIA allowed the lapped cars between Lewis Hamilton and the Dutchman to pass. The race restarted with one lap to go, and the Red Bull racer made a pass, won the race and his first ever F1 title