Before I begin, let me make it clear that I am more of a Lewis Hamilton fan, than a Max Verstappen one, so that undoubtedly clouds my judgement when it comes to the drama of the 2021 British Grand Prix, but hey, having a preference for one driver over another doesn’t immediately disqualify my opinion (if it did then neither Christian Horner or Toto Wolff should have a say in the matter)… so here’s what I think.
Oh, and before anyone asks, I have absolutely no professional driving experience whatsoever and have never competed in the top echelon on any sport since I went to high school many moons ago, this is purely my viewpoint from an avid Formula One spectator on the underside of this giant spinning rock we call the Earth.
So with all of that out of the way, here’s how I saw it…
Live and in living colour…
At first glance and at full speed, it looked like a first lap racing incident, with neither driver willing to concede an inch to the other and I think there are a few people better qualified than me who would agree. It’s always interesting when it comes to reviewing slow motion replays and external data to make a decision about who did what as I think that does an injustice to the drivers who are making split second decisions at 160mph+, but it’s the world we live in.
So once you start to slow things down and look at every angle, here’s what I think.
Without a doubt, Max Verstappen is one of the more aggressive drivers on the Formula One scene today (and always has been since he entered the sport) and I personally believe he has gotten away with things in the past that contributed to the outcome of this incident. I think there has been some leeway given to Max that other drivers have not gotten in the past and this has led to his aggressive approach being largely “accepted” as the Max way of driving.
Subsequently, I think he pushes the boundaries at times and expects that other drivers will yield track position in the knowledge that if they don’t, then Max is going to go where he wants to go and there’ll be a crash. I’m sure other drivers have made this comment in the past when raising issues with his driving style, but in many cases there’s not been a crash, so we’ve all just carried on.
Was he entirely in the wrong in this incident, I don’t think so. He certainly wasn’t shy about moving around the track earlier in the lap to ensure that Hamilton couldn’t position his car for a clean overtake (and let’s be honest he went off the track at turn one to retain the lead… but it’s lap one, so it is what it is). And as many commentators pointed out, whoever led after the first lap was going to have the best chance of winning the race (although the Mercedes on the hard tyres was exceptionally fast, so we’ll never know if Hamilton could have caught him anyway).
It’s pretty clear that Max saw Hamilton at the last minute as he turned out of the corner slightly before choosing to turn back in, and by all accounts there was a clear car width within which Hamilton could have positioned his car, but I think it’s extremely unfair of Christian Horner to suggest that a driver with Hamilton’s experience would deliberately attempt to punt his championship rival off the track at 160mph… and don’t get me started on Helmut Marko (that guy needs to just put a sock in it more often than not).
Should Hamilton have jumped out of the way, like many before him?
Could Hamilton have avoided the crash? If he’d done what countless other drivers have done and simply get out of Max’s way, then absolutely, but was it his responsibility to do so… I’m not so sure. He clearly had more space, but as others have pointed out he missed the apex by a fair bit (but in fairness from the angle he was coming from I don’t believe he was going to follow the standard racing line) and he did have more success in future overtakes at the same corner, so it’s wrong to suggest that “you don’t overtake there”.
So I end up somewhat back where I started with it being a racing incident, although the stewards would disagree and so be it. They decided Hamilton was due a penalty, which he subsequently served, and then he went about his business and managed to win the race anyway. It was still a superb drive under those circumstances and if we accept that the stewards gave the right penalty, then he thoroughly deserved to win the race under those conditions.
All in all, it was an unfortunate way for the race to play out and while the gap in the championship has shrunk I’m still tipping Verstappen to win the championship based on pure speed. The Red Bull is exceptionally quick and they’re definitely going all out to try and win this year, and of course Max is a great driver, so the combination of the two is giving them their best chance in ages to wrestle the title away from Mercedes and Hamilton.
History comes a knocking…
But, and this ties in to the title of this post, history has led us to today. Max has always been super aggressive in how he drives and many people have questioned this in the past and for whatever reason the stewards have let him get away with it. So that’s provided an environment where the other drivers know that unless they get out of the way, Max is happy to put his car in positions that will likely result in a crash.
In this instance, Hamilton wasn’t prepared to yield in what many identified as a critical race for his championship chances, Max did what Max does and this time the result was catastrophic for him (although like everyone, I am pleased that he walked away with no serious injuries). Maybe if he’d faced stronger consequences for past actions he’d have thought twice about how he approached this situation (and Red Bull have a responsibility here considering how they’ve handled past incidents)… but we’ll never know.
It’s certainly been interesting to see how each team and driver has reacted. Without a doubt Red Bull as a whole have thrown all their toys out of the pram and made some pretty extreme accusations, but let’s face it that’s Red Bull to the core. This season in particular they’ve not been afraid of the niggle and antagonism of Mercedes (Horner seems to be mastering it, but Verstappen isn’t far behind) and Helmut Marko is always to be relied on for a ridiculous headline.
Mercedes on the other hand seem to have taken a more “clinical” stance, which as the benefactor of the outcome is a much easier position to be in. Hamilton could of quite easily told Horner to go f**k himself after he was accused of deliberately taking Verstappen out, but he choose to basically ignore it. Toto has also been quoted as taking a more analytical approach, but it’ll be interesting to see if he has more to say further down the line (especially at the suggestion that one of his drivers is prepared to endanger the life of another).
So there you have it, my take on the whole situation. While I am sure it will rumble on for some time to come (and I’ll be interested to see the Hamilton / Verstappen dynamic in future races), I think the title of this post about sums it up.
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