Verstappen: We should stay at home if penalty comes
- Published on 30 Jun 2019 17:10
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Max Verstappen says that everyone should stay at home if his race clenching move on Charles Leclerc is deemed illegal.
The pair fought for the lead of the race on the final laps, which saw Verstappen getting past the Ferrari driver into Turn 3.
However, contact was made and Leclerc was forced off the road which caused the stewards to open an investigation around the incident.
“It’s hard racing otherwise we have to stay at home,” Verstappen said. “If those things are not allowed in racing, what is the point of being in F1? After that start I thought the race was over, but we just kept pushing hard,”
“The pace was actually not too bad, got a big flat spot on my first tyre. After the pitstop, we were flying, you could see on the straight we had good pace as well.
“So we could make a pass, of course extremely happy for the whole team, and also for Honda, we just started working together this year. To win here is incredible."
Verstappen's race looked all but over on the opening lap when he dropped back into the lower reaches of the points with an issue getting off the line.
However, he pulled back through to take his sixth win - something that he didn't think could happen until he passed the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas for P2.
"After such a start, to go back up calmly... of course I got into second then you really start believing to go for the victory.
"Before that, it was always hard to see. I knew that I was catching but I didn't know if it was going to be enough or not. It depends on how I got by Valtteri, and the tyres."
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Replies (12)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
i agree. will be ridiculous if he loses the win
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Of course he'd think that. But in essence I agree. The penalty should be handed out before the podium ceremony. Doing it now will lower fan morale and decrease an already low trust for the stewards. The move was kinda grayzone, and like the other grayzones, I think thid one's better left alone.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I don't even understand the rationale for this being seriously under investigation. A year ago this wouldn't have even been investigated. Had it been in the midfield I don't think they would have looked at it. Max had the racing line. He did a normal line on the corner. Leclerc was beaten the moment he went side by side outside of the racing line into the corner. It was awesome that Leclerc defended to the end, and even had contact. Loved it. But Max put a hard move. Simple.
I've been very critical of Max the last couple of years with other clumsy immature moves. He deserved just about every penalty he's earned in the past. This, however, was just awesome racing.
Also, I think comparisons to Canada are asinine. For starters, Verstappen didn't lose control of his car, he didn't barge into the racing line, he didn't squeeze someone into a wall, and Max also didn't turn into an oncoming car.
Manto02
Posts: 93
Tho they gave a penalty to ricciardo in France when he forced lando off track, and they gave it to Rosberg in 2016 when he forced Hamilton off track. I don't think there should be a penalty but given the past they have to do it, or they'll be incoherents (as always)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I can kinda see it, since Lec had to go off-track in a kinda evasive maneuver, yet he was kinda the one in charge of making a maneuver that led to him having to take said evasive maneuver, since Max did have the line. At the end of the day I think it's more a spiel for the peanut gallery rather than a serious investigation, just an attempt to look fair. Neither you nor I am fans of Max (I just cheer because HONDA!!!... I'm sure nobody knew that!), but this time he should with all right escape scathe free. It was a racing incident at worst.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
@Manto They did award Ric a penalty there yes, but it should be noted that Ric had repeated this move at least twice before during the race without penalties. He had a chance of stopping with it, yet he didn't. As for Ros vs Hammy: those moves were on another scale. Those two were ferocious against each other in a way we've rarely seen in F1 since before the 2000's, and it'll likely take another decade until we see it again, for better or worse.
Manto02
Posts: 93
I agree that there shouldn't be penalty, but they gave it to Rosberg in 2016 for a similar move
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Probably shouldn't be a penalty but if he gets one it's his own fault. He had a perfect race up to that point and he didn't even need to crash into LeClerc. Charles is really the one who is getting the penalty. He ran a clean race and if you watch he left plenty of room when he could have closed the door, and see what he gets for it. I bet Ferrari is sorry they didn't let him race off into the distance like he was asking for in the early stages of the race. It was theirs to lose. VER deserved the win but he'll never be a great champion if he can't learn to race within the regs. The regulations are there, if you don't like them, don't race. If you race, and don't follow the regs you'll get penalized. He's right, if you can't race within the regs, you should go home son.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
After watching that overtake a couple of times and listening to guys like Damon Hill whom describe what is going on it was clear to me that it wasn't a penalty. The reason why is two fold. One Verstappen had the racing line and therefore it's his corner. Two during the overtake first Leclerc yields and than he steers towards Verstappen knowing that there is limited space, Verstappen did not change his steering angle.
xoya
Posts: 583
I'd love to think that if I was Leclerc, I'd go for the crash.
Nothing to lose, screw points, just go for win or bust.
Then, next time all the drivers would be a bit more cautious when racing with him/me.
Like Senna did back in the day, and like Max does nowadays.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
That's actually what he did, he created the contact knowing that it would go to stewards investigation. Generally an overtaking driver applies the same strategy since leaving space during the overtake means that the overtaken car can get in front again if he can get on the power earlier. This is what happened the lap before, Verstappen did the overtake and Leclerc got in front of him again. Verstappen is a quick learner and adjusted the overtake strategy with an later apex and thus allowing no space on the exit for Leclerc.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
I was thinking the same thing. That's the reason why they give Max more room because they know if it's a tight race he's going to crash into them. Now LeClerc looks week because he could have been more agressive. Crashing VER would have shown he's not the only one who has his elbows out.