Verstappen: No one to blame for Hamilton contact
- Published on 28 May 2019 15:02
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Max Verstappen believes that neither he or Lewis Hamilton were at fault for the contact they made towards the end of the Monaco Grand Prix.
After following Hamilton in P2 for much of the race, Verstappen attempted an overtake for the race lead at Turn 10, which resulted in contact.
Both drivers escaped without any significant damage, and Verstappen dropped to fourth after the chequered flag as he had a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release earlier in the race.
MORE: Verstappen, Hamilton escape penalty after late-race collision
Verstappen insists he doesn't hold any grudge against Hamilton after the incident, maintaining that both drivers raced fairly.
"I was always so close at the hairpin, but all the time coming out of Turn 8, I just lost that momentum," Verstappen said. "At one point I just said 'okay, let's have a go and see what happens'.
"Then we had a little touch. Under braking, normally you don't look in your mirrors, and they're already difficult to see through. There was no one to blame, and we didn't have any real damage."
Straight 'too short' to catch up
Verstappen was told over the radio on the last few laps to shift to 'mode 7', a higher engine mode that offered him more power.
The 21-year-old says that the straight is too short to make any gains, and the situation wasn't helped by Mercedes giving Hamilton extra power to defend.
"We used a few performance modes, but for sure Mercedes was also doing that," Verstappen commented.
"The problem is that out of that Turn 8 corner, I am always late on the throttle because he is a few metres ahead of me. You lose the momentum and the straight is to short to catch up.
"We do have a performance mode, but we still don't have the performance like Mercedes or Ferrari have. We knew that already from the beginning of the season.
"We are all working hard to of course improve the car, but also the engine," Verstappen concluded.
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Replies (13)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
i agree, close racing and nothing more
zorba
Posts: 1,677
er is inderdaad niets gebeurt,had hij er hamilton uit gebonjourd was het een ander paar mouwen geweest wees daar maar zeker van
Biggs7
Posts: 38
Ja maar ek dink dit was hom fout is net dat daar niks erenstig gebeur het daarom se hy is niemand se fout.
zorba
Posts: 1,677
mouwen
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
That whole so-called "fight" should have never happened. VER should have been given a 5 second drive thru for ruining Bottas's race. If he would have been penalized properly for his terrible driving again at Monaco the fight would have properly been between Bottas and Hammy, and maybe VET, but he was just kind of coasting as far as I can tell. VER makes the show interesting but as a driver isn't that impressive. His main tactic seems to be to hit is opponents when it looks like he's going to lose a place. Hamilton is just thanking his guardian angel that VER didn't take him out completely like he would have in the past. Another year without a clean race weekend at Monaco from VER. Other drivers can race and overtake cleanly but he just doesn't seem to be able to get the hang of it.
911insider
Posts: 226
VER = the only reason F1 in Monaco was not a boring parade. What did you achieve 'Ram Samartha' to justify your comments on one of the best drivers on the grid ? You would not even make it out of the box Trol.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I agree to some extent Ram. However I do in a sense prefer that he didn't get a harsher penalty since it was the team's fault, and even then they probably had a hard time seeing the two cars coming out. One could argue the double stacking Merc' did didn't help either. So all that considered, I think it was adequate. That said the 10 seconds handed to another driver (don't remember whom) seem weird then.
I really think Vettel just wanted to keep low for when Hammy's tyres would faulter, a nice strategy that didn't come good. Mind, Ver looked quite a bit better around Monaco this time compared to last, though I do still think Monaco isn't quite his kinda track.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
It was nice for F1 that Max didn't get a penalty. But he absolutely deserved it. He didn't just cut Bottas off, he rammed him against the wall. That being said, it did make the race more interesting. Also, that "racing incident" at the chicane with Hamilton was a mistake. It's just that both were lucky to get out without damage. But Max outbraked himself, was slightly out of control. Still, I praise Max for having the best year of his career by far. This were the first signs of weakness or mistakes this year. But compared to the past this was fairly minor.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Apparently piss you off 911insider, so +1 for me I guess.
You're right it's pointless to state the obvious to VER fanbois cuz they are so star struck by him they can't see he's basically about as good as a carnival bumper car driver who crashes into you if he can't get past.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
@ajpp, He did get 2 penalty points on license for intentionally crashing into Bottas in the pit lane.
michielhimself
Posts: 132
Calle.ITW Verstappen showed he could grabpole in Monaco last year and drove from an 18th starting position to 9th and a points finish. Monaco had all the trappings of being Verstappen's "bogeytrack" but he already turned that around last year except for his faulty recovery from passing Sainz on cool-down during FP3 and wrecking his car's front-end.
I also noticed that a certain other highly rated young driver in top-team machinery also had a chance to do something similar from 16th on the grid this year, but didn'(.
If Ferrari are thinking LeClerc this year is close to where Verstappen was last year, then the combination of faults and failures by team and driver on and off track have proven them wrong.
f1ski
Posts: 726
That was just aggressive racing by both. I do want to point out that at this time that historically the fastest car didn't always win because teams could impact differing strategy where the time differences made a difference. When a car that is down 120 hp. or a car is able to lap 1.5 sec slower than other teams behind and still win that is a problem with the track, and rules. Bring back refueling allow teams to use one compound if they make 2 stops mandate the hard compound if they make 1. The turbo hybrid era with the freezing of development for the first 3 years was a disaster. The no testing rules also hamper development. How about using some of the legacy funds to pay for all teams to test privately in the off season and in season. It is unthinkable that teams spending millions can't test in locations that simulate conditions they will race in. F1 is to entrenched in "tradition" perhaps that tradition is nepotism.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
The fact that Bottas drove unnecessary slow prior the pit stop (tripping rule 24.7) in order to gain an advantage has not been mentioned by the F1 stewards. I effect he slowed down Verstappen/Vettel to guaranty an Hamilton race win. Currently the rules only seem to apply for any else than Ferrari/Mercedes.