Verstappen against the Ferraris: “I was just defending my position; if I don’t like it, that’s not my problem”;
Involved on several occasions in racing incidents with the Ferrari drivers, Max Verstappen denied any responsibility, blaming his rivals instead.
Overmotivated by the nearby homeland air and the presence of thousands of Dutch supporters, Verstappen put on a show this afternoon at Spa! The Red Bull driver defended his various positions to the end, despite a disappointing final ranking: eleventh.
From the start, the driver with number 33 tried to regain his second position earned in qualifying, against the Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen, who had a much better start. The passage through La Source was the first hot spot of this epic race. Going three-wide, a collision was inevitable with Max Verstappen delaying his braking as much as possible. Bouncing off Räikkönen who was on his left, the maneuver also impacted Sebastian Vettel’s start, in the middle of the corner, resulting in a spin, in an action reminiscent of the start of the Chinese Grand Prix this year.
The consequences of this incident were terrible both for the Ferraris and for Verstappen himself, who also had to go back to the pits to repair his car and rejoin at the back of the field.
Then, at the time of the interruption caused by Magnussen’s accident, we couldn’t help but notice the driver in deep discussion with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. The words were already clear, Verstappen believed he was in the right, on the inside of the corner.
Verstappen & Horner say it’s Vettel’s fault pic.twitter.com/0LFFo8wxQg
— Gianlu D’Alessandro (@Gianludale27) 28 août 2016
Once the race was restarted, he found himself a few laps later… Kimi Räikkönen, for a new explanation of texts, both on the track and on the radios. A new controversial move was then recorded between the two men, with the first violently shutting the door on the second in an overtaking attempt on the Kemmel straight, toward the Les Combes braking zone. This action is certainly less defensible than the one at the start, with Verstappen changing his trajectory more than once in the middle of the straight, which is strictly forbidden by the regulations, or his aggressive defenses during braking.
When questioned afterwards by the journalists present, Verstappen described Räikkönen’s remarks as a big lie.
Regarding the departure:
« I was just defending my position; if that does not please someone, that is not my problem » he claimed.
« My start wasn’t great, so I dove inside, I didn’t lock up my wheels, I was able to take the first corner easily. But they both rushed at me while I was on the inside. Kimi squeezed me, but Sebastian also turned my way. »
« Sebastian knew he was on the outside, yet he still took the turn in the direction of my car and Räikkönen’s. This accident damaged my front wing, I had a lot of damage to my floor, from then on, I knew the race would be complicated. »
Verstappen’s comeback only brought him to eleventh position, more than five seconds away from points. However, more than the starting maneuver, specialists will also spend long hours dissecting his race defense, which will undoubtedly find supporters… but also fierce opponents!
Unfortunately no luck in the race. Tried to fight back in front of my fans, but the car was too damaged. #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/IeWBx8linR
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) 28 août 2016
