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Max Verstappen has taken the full blame for the incident between himself and Sebastian Vettel at the Chinese Grand Prix. Verstappen ran into the side of the German towards the end of the race, causing both men to spin out and drop two places each to Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.
The stewards deemed that Verstappen was at fault for the crash, and handed him a 10-second time penalty. After crossing the line in fourth place, he was demoted to fifth. However, despite taking the blame for the crash, the Dutchman says that his driving style doesn't need altering.
"I could see them struggling on the tyres. I tried to brake late into the corner and locked the rears a bit and hit him, so that was of course my fault," Verstappen said. "It’s not what you want and of course it’s easier to say afterwards I should have waited. It probably would have been the best idea, but unfortunately it happened."
When asked if he needs to relax his driving style, he replied: "It's easy to comment that. Just at the moment it’s just not going the way I like, but does it really mean I have to calm down? I don’t think so. It’s just very unfortunate those things happening. I just need to analyse everything and try to come back stronger for the next race."
The Dutchman has also taken 2 penalty points on his FIA Super Licence, taking him to 5 in the last 12 months. If he obtains 12 points within a 12 month period, he will be forced to sit out a race.
Verstappen now sits in eighth place in the driver's standings, behind Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg who have scored points on every occasion so far in 2018. Red Bull reclaim third place in the constructor's standings, leaping McLaren.
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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LightIsRight
Posts: 113
Dickhead strikes again.
This championship will not be determined by speed or reliability, it will be determined by this year and who he takes out each race.