Lewis Hamilton believes Esteban Ocon was not wholly to blame for his collision with Max Verstappen, saying it would have been “simple” for the Red Bull driver to leave him room.
Ocon, who was a lap behind Verstappen, knocked the leader into a spin and left him with damage which allowed Hamilton through to win the race. The stewards gave Ocon and 10-second stop-and-go penalty – one of the harshest penalties available – for causing the collision.But Hamilton said Ocon had a right to attempt to un-lap himself from the Red Bull. “I’m pretty sure there’s no rules says that you can’t un-lap yourself,” said Hamilton. “I’ve done it before.”
Ocon was running on super-soft tyres and lapping more quickly than Verstappen. “Ultimately when you’re in Ocon’s position you’ve got nothing to lose,” Hamilton pointed out.
“You want to get through. You’ve got much quicker tyres. You’re trapped if you got much quicker tyres and the guy in front it’s not pushing that out, which Max wasn’t he was saving his tyres. So he’s cruising, holding him up. You’re gonna go for it try and get by and move yourself forwards.
“And I felt like it was fair game for him to try to un-lap himself. Of course you don’t want to cause an incident. But in those scenarios you give each other space. It’s as simple as that. It’s so simple to give each other space.”
Verstappen should have allowed more space for Ocon, said Hamilton. “You can never assume that the person is not up your inside because he’s a backmarker and he’s going to back off.
“You’ve got to assume, you’ve got to be acknowledge the fact that he may be there so I’m going to leave extra space. Because actually he’s in a different race to me. That’s my opinion about it.
“So from my seat it felt like it wasn’t 100 percent one side. More like maybe it’s 60-40.”
Ocon apologised to Verstappen in a social media post after the race. “I’m very sorry for Max,” he wrote, “crashing with a lap car should never happen it was his race to win.
“But on my side I got told to un-lap myself as I was quicker on a fresh set [of tyres], and it was not an option to lift in the straight line. It is an unfortunate incident and of course we don’t want to see those things happen.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
12th November 2018, 0:08
I agree that I was not 100% Ocon’s fault, but neither 60:40…maybe 80:20. Ocon was apparently acting on team instruction to unlap himself and take maximum advantage of new tyres, so he was going for it. But Verstappen made it quite clear he is not going to accommodate him, and at that point Ocon should have backed off. Then again, Verstappen had lot more to lose and could have left room…
John Toad (@)
12th November 2018, 0:28
This incident highlight why Max will never win a WDC, he doesn’t know when to fight and when not to.
For him he still can’t think any further ahead than this corner, this lap, this race.
Sometimes you let the other guy pass and go on his merry way.
Max wasn’t racing Ocon, wasn’t even on the same lap as Ocon, so just let him by.
He’d have maintained his lead over Hamilton and would have been in prime position to win the race.
Instead he got himself tangled up in a meaningless tangle with Ocon and lost the race.
Whatever your opinion of the incident you have to agree that Max had the most to lose from a collision so the responsibility lies with on his shoulders to ensure that one doesn’t occur.
Sure Max is quick but to win a WDC you have to be able to see the big picture and Max still can’t see past the small picture.
Nathan Builder (@nathanbuilder)
12th November 2018, 0:39
Totally agree. I mean, it’s possible that Verstappen will learn, but as the races go by, and by the way RBR treats him, I highly doubt he’ll ever learn.
Chaitanya
12th November 2018, 3:05
Knowing he is son of Jos Verstappen and being managed by Horner/Marco combo he will never learn. He will still be that punchable brat.
Aapje (@aapje)
12th November 2018, 18:59
@nathanbuilder
It’s going to be just like Vettel. Not winning anything with Red Bull and then when he leaves for a team with proper driver management like Ferrari, he will start winning WDCs.
Jon
12th November 2018, 23:17
Ferrari has LeClerc who is better all around than Max as we will probably see next year.
Ferrari won’t hire VER with his attitude – they won’t put up with it.
Aldoid
12th November 2018, 1:48
He has the raw pace & talent to win the title with ease if he finds himself in a car with the kind of performance Seb & Lewis have enjoyed on their dominant runs, but if he has to fight strong opponents (especially a strong teammate) I don’t see young Max faring very well, to be honest. Sadly, it’s now been a few years since quite a few of us have been saying this, yet Max seems to hardly have gotten any wiser.
Patrick (@paeschli)
12th November 2018, 6:17
@ceevee Verstappen’s racing has been flowless from Canada on. The way he drove the last few years will make sure he wins the WDC some day because he’s engraved ‘Dont mess with Verstappen’ in everyone’s head.
john (@spactus)
12th November 2018, 11:42
first off he choked and didnt take pole,but mainly lewis has been giving him a wide berth….Max has been strong at the end of the year again like last year when the other guys are fighting for championship and have to be careful,he on the other hand can drive with reckless abandon with nothing to lose.something he should have remembered,,oh but hard racing and giving no quarter is only for him.
he started the year with all the pundits elevating to tittle contender and he crashed and burn when the stakes was equal between him and his compeditors,,,,I expect the same for the next coming years
Dean
12th November 2018, 17:22
No. When or IF, and thats big IF, max is ever involved in a championship battle you think the there drivers will move out of his way? Not a chance will they give a competitor a free pass. So far he hasn’t been a competitor to any of the WDC challengers so it makes perfect sense to let mad max through. Earier on in the season Lewis gave him short shrift a couple of times and they clashed. Max came off worse. He will learn one day and he will be an awesome driver but he’s gotta learn when to hold em and when to fold em.
Nick (@nick101)
12th November 2018, 0:59
Hamilton is 100% correct. Just look at the picture at the top of this article. Ocon only had a wheels width of his car on the track – he could not have gone any further to the right. Verstappens on the other hand had the ENTIRE tracks width to his left but chose to take up the tiny part of the track that Ocon was RIGHTFULLY on. Ocon had every right to be there. This was 100% Verstappens fault and he should have been penalised and then booted from the championship for assaulting Ocon. Total fool!
Hugh (@hugh11)
12th November 2018, 13:24
No Ocon did not have the right to be there. He had the right to try and make the move, but when it was clear that Verstappen was ahead into turn 2, he should have braked and let the leader of the race take the racing line.
mystic one (@mysticus)
12th November 2018, 21:22
so in that comical reasoning, why not bottas was penalized for 2013 brazil incident? where do you draw the line? bottas was never gonna get by hamilton in the braking zone at the end of the straight, yet he squeezed himself next to hamilton… if you say hamilton should have checked his mirrors, i will tell max to push/punch you too… tell that max please, ocon was clearly along side, he should have checked his mirrors too! bottas was trying to unlap himself too… if you start saying race leader, wdc contender, corners and what not, there is no definitive justification for rules, it is purely based on who is involved rather than what happened! this is the problem and why the penalties are joke in f1!
ocon was racing clean up until two bad and really stupid stubborn moves by max!
1) before the corner, if you watch the video, max moved underbraking as usual, and tried to run/force ocon wide!
2) when that didnt work, and when ocon was clearly along side, he steered into him, and came worse off, and now plays the victim…
like he stupidly claiming that people should be more careful around him as they have more to loose due to his stupid driving style that is entertaining some people… now i call this KARMA! and charlie is really farce on this one, he should not consider who is involved when applying penalties! they should only consider rules and consequences of events and not people/ranking! where were you in 2013 brazil? where were you in 2008 spa?
DocNuke (@)
12th November 2018, 1:03
@gpfacts,
When they interviewed Otmar Szafnauer after the race, he said that Ocon had asked if he could pass Verstappen so he could unlap himself because he wasn’t sure if he could or not and the pit wall said yes he could.
Ocon went by Verstappen because Verstappen was trying to follow his strategy. As soon as Ocon went by you could see Verstappen pick up the pace and we know what happened there.
I’ll agree with the 60-40 split on fault. If Verstappen was truly following his strategy, then he could have let Ocon go and pick him up at the end of the straight with DRS and the blue flags which would have been in his favor and that would have been the end of the discussion. He had time over the field and Ocon had his race he was in so yeah I would agree with Ocon having made the pass. When Verstappen turned in he slammed the door on Ocon, which to be quite honest isn’t the first time that he has done something like that in regards to leaving any sort of room for anyone because he is trying to keep them from passing (see him and Bottas in Monza).
I have to agree with Martin Brundle’s assessment on the entire thing. As a race leader you shouldn’t have to be dealing with slower traffic (especially someone being 2 laps down), so the right of way was in Verstappen’s favor, but how he did it shows that he lacks maturity and situational awareness around him.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th November 2018, 7:16
Yeah, he should have backed off in the second corner, stayed close and just blasted past on the next straight – it was not too far away, and would have been easy to do. On the other Hand, Verstappen could have just let Ocon go through (I guess it was partly instinctive to fight a car passing him?) and he would have won the race.
The fault for the incident lies clearly with Ocon though.
Ed
12th November 2018, 0:23
Hamilton wouldve avoided that. Thats for sure.
After that close call on Singapore we can say he thinks his every move at the Track.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
12th November 2018, 1:05
Yes, think singapore example is the best one to prove hamilton wouldn’t actually take any risk like this and that it’s not just that “ocon wouldn’t have done that with a merc”, in singapore he lost several seconds, heard 5, but didn’t lap those 2 cars, including a williams, that were battling for position, verstappen even risked to overtake him due to that.
Ben (@scuderia29)
12th November 2018, 0:42
Just another reason why I despise lewis Hamilton, rather than empathising with verstappen, he basically blames max, unbelievable, he lucked into todays victory but with these comments its as if he’s claiming he deserved it as max lost it himself. Terrible, unlapping yourself is something you do if it’s done without endangering the lead car, squeezing around the outside, up on the kerbs is the kind of move you pull if you’re in contention for victory, I think it’s disgusting that anyone’s defending ocon on this personally.
David S
12th November 2018, 0:01
Max is not the first leader to tangle with a back marker, and won’t be the last. I find it ironic that in Brazil 2001, Max’s dad Jos took out race leader Montoya when he was being lapped. Now Max (and his team and his fans) complains like he’s the only one it’s ever happened to.
Max cannot see the big picture yet. I think fault was 75-25 (Max-Ocon). Ocon was in the faster car at that time, with newer, softer (thus faster) tyres. Max knew he was there but basically drove him off the road. But Ocon can only unlap himself in a safe manner, hence the split in fault. But it’s like the distracted pedestrian crossing the road at a proper crossing place and getting mown down by car that didn’t slow. The pedestrian may have been in the right, but comes off far worse. You have to see the big picture. Hamilton and Schumacher were the same in their early days.
Max will learn IF he can control his temper. Assaulting Ocon in the weigh room afterwards shows he has the “red mist” problem. And let’s not forget that Jos was found guilty of assaulting karting rival in 1998 (the other guy got a fractured skull), was given a suspended jail sentence in 2008 for threatening his wife and in 2012 was again arrested after he drove his car into his then girlfriend’s and then fleeing the scene. It seems like anger management is a problem for the Verstappens.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
12th November 2018, 1:03
He gives Max the advice of a WDC, but obviously you can’t see it because you’re as short sighted and emotional as Max was today. All he had to do today was give space and he would’ve won the race. But Max had to win the corner, and he lost the race for it. Regardless of whose fault it was Max had the most to lose. He obviously didn’t think about that. And made contact. Lewis gave Max the advice he sorely needs to become a better driver. Patience. Thinking about the long term. But you, RBR and all of his fans will continue to feed into his poor choices.
faulty (@faulty)
12th November 2018, 2:16
That’s a great phrase.
Nick (@nick101)
12th November 2018, 1:03
That’s because you’re a fool.
Look at the photo on this article. There’s only 1 person being squeezed unfairly and that is OCON. Verstappens is a petulant child.
Percy
12th November 2018, 8:33
Ocon was a lap behind and he was fighting with the lead car, he should have just left go through and tried maybe later. His idiotic action cost Max a race victory which is not easy to digest. Hamilton got after loader which he didn’t deserve at all.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
12th November 2018, 16:26
When the contact was made, Max was moving across to the apex & Ocon had nowhere to go but onto the grass. The rules about leaving drivers space applies regardless of what laps the drivers are on – if Max had forced Ocon off without contact, he’d have likely been given a time penalty or a drive-through, costing him the race win regardless.
OOliver
12th November 2018, 12:23
No one is defending Ocon, but Max had nothing to lose by letting him go past, Ocon was 2laps down. They were as good as not being in the same venue.
Hamilton gave him the best advice because Hamilton genuinely respects Max.
Always remain calm on track and ignore inconsequential distractions.
Blazzz (@blazzz)
12th November 2018, 12:34
@scuderia29
I’d pay good money to read what you’d be saying had Hamilton conducted himself in the despicable manner that Max did.
mystic one (@mysticus)
12th November 2018, 21:29
@Ben, thats why ham is 5, read F I V E, times WDC, and MAX is still young and the restless NO BODY! if he continues his childish behaviour and win at all costs attitude, he will be the SOME BODY that will be associated with LAUGHING STOCK! He had the talent, but wasted it all for a damn corner!
Prvn
12th November 2018, 2:26
Here Ocon was racing evwn during he is getting lapped,
And in monacco he made it easy for Merc champ to overtake himself even though he was not in a state of lapped car.. strange, any politics:p
GeordiePorker (@geordieporker)
12th November 2018, 8:18
Re-watch the race and see how difficult it was for Bottas to pass the Ferrari-powered cars compared to how quickly Raikkonen and Vettel got past. One of the Haas cars moved over like it was being lapped!
I don’t agree with it, but while we only have 2 decent engines, sorry Power Units, in F1 (maybe 3 next year), there will always be games played by the power brokers. We desperately need a lower bar to entry for engine makers. Or a better advertising platform (i.e. more viewers) to make the investment worth it.
Anyway, I don’t but the conspiracy that Ocon crashed deliberately. Personally, I think if he’d been racing for position then Verstappen would have got the penalty.
AJ_007
12th November 2018, 13:09
Even though there is politics, you have to understand it
if politics is as straight forward as that, then why it is called politics
you should be thoughtful enough, why in the world merc driver let go a non-merc driver that easily?
But max dont want to understand that and want to win the corner
just a question what would have happened if max spare some space and let ocon go?
1) No unnecessary crash (destroying million of dollars/pounds spent on car and efforts)
2) Max Won the Race
3) No need of unnecessary social service
In below point whiting clearly mentioned Red Bull should curb the excitement of there driver otherwise he never will be WDC , take a example from this season only, Vettel lost WDC due to same reason
“If he’s got the pace then normally one would expect Red Bull to say ‘Ocon’s got the pace, just let him through’
Amancalledchuda
12th November 2018, 2:55
This incident was 100% Max’s fault.
If you look at the video, Ocon was in complete control of his car – he wasn’t over-steering, he wasn’t understeering. He was steering further and further to the right, onto the curb, trying to keep away from Max – even ending up on the yellow ‘sausage’ curb.
What caused this accident was that Max arrogantly pretended that Ocon wasn’t there and simply followed the racing line – even though that would inevitably cause a collision. And it did. And it was completely Max’s fault. Let’s be very clear about this:- Max drove into Ocon.
Look at it this way… If we were to swap the cars – so that Ocon was on the left, and Max was on the right, whose fault would it have been then? Ocon’s again, yes? How can it possibly have been Ocon’s fault, regardless of which position he’d been in? Answer? Because the way it actually happened *wasn’t* Ocon’s fault.
The only reason he got a penalty was that everyone wanted to see another fairytale win for everybody’s favourite:- Max Verstappen. But that didn’t happen, because of this incident. There were only two people in the frame to blame: Verstappen or Ocon. And we’re not going to blame Verstappen, are we? So Ocon gets the blame. Not because he did anything wrong on track, but because the result everyone wanted got spoiled and Ocon was the only available person to use as a scapegoat.
Another example of why incidents should be digitised and anonymised then passed to stewards who are in a dark room, who have no idea what’s going. Had that have happened in this case, Max would have been given the penalty.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
12th November 2018, 16:29
Ocon got the penalty because an accident was caused as a result of a move he initiated against a car that was ahead of him on the track. That doesn’t (in my opinion) absolve Max of any blame as he created the incident by racing a car two laps down and ignoring the rules that require drivers to allow space for their rivals – as i’ve stated elsewhere, had he forced Ocon off without contact, then he would likely have picked up a 5/10 second time penalty or a drive through for forcing another car off the track.
James
12th November 2018, 17:34
Thing is no where in the regulations does it state a lapped car can’t unlap itself. It also does not state that when uncapping itself the pass must be completed on a straight and before the braking zone. So I don’t get how you can’t see he didn’t break any rules and was entitled to a card width of space as any other driver would be if they we that far alongside. The one and only reason he got a penalty is due to emotions and the political power of top teams and nothing to do with regulations.
mystic one (@mysticus)
12th November 2018, 22:56
If Ocon understeered into Max, penalty would be justified for careless driving, but this was complete farce of a penalty… max did steer into ocon… regardless of ocon’s track position… max did two silly moves, one before the corner one inside the corner… before the corner, he tried to run ocon wide, and keep him from overtaking… for no reason other than his ego… and in the corner, he ignored ocon completely! and steered into him… 100 fault at max, and f1 scape goated ocon with 3 points! wow… vettel/max themselves got 5 sec /2 point penalties that were actually penalties for causing collision for over/under steering into an opponent!
macradar (@macradar)
12th November 2018, 23:50
Lovely logic!
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
12th November 2018, 3:10
Leaving a bit of room, Verstappen would’ve likely retained the lead with a better drive out of the corner, despite Ocon’s fresher tyres.
I really felt that Verstappen was far too aggressive on this occasion (and in many an occasion), compromising his race win in lieu of a potential few tenths lost (especially when he was already driving to a delta). He needs to learn to play the long-game; and this was the advice which Hamilton, who has demonstrated very clearly this season the long-game, has the experience to bestow on to his younger competitor.
Verstappen should heed the advice. It must be said that he is maturing as a driver, and becoming more patient and demonstrated that earlier in this race. But there is always more to learn.
greg-c (@greg-c)
12th November 2018, 3:32
Not a big fan of either driver here but this picture shows me a Force India about to exceed track limits and not nearly far enough beside to make a pass stick,
koddamn (@gufdamm)
12th November 2018, 4:09
Really? This picture shows me a Force India trying to avoid a Red Bull cutting his line off.
James
12th November 2018, 17:39
That’s because this picture shows the point at which max cut across the front of a car that was half way alongside. Ocon was half a car length alongside and any other driver would have been entitled to space but because back markers are seen as lower class peasant drivers they bent the rules to appease the egos of the bigger brands.
mystic one (@mysticus)
12th November 2018, 23:00
and defense for max is laughable… ocon was along side him, he just tried to cut the corner so ocon to back off, but at the time, ocon was already along side! max failed big time, and yet it is always someone else’s fault vs max’s brilliantly silly driving style…
anon
12th November 2018, 4:01
At least we can agree now that Vettel wasn’t at fault for his move in Suzuka. If Verstappen is to blame for this incident, then Vettel can’t shoulder any blame for Suzuka.
James
12th November 2018, 17:44
How so? Vettel was not going to make that apex and would of required max to give way completely to let him through. Icon would have made the apex fine. Vettel dive bombed up the inside with massive over speed to get alongside. Ocon was already alongside and travelling slower than the redbull when max cut across the front of him. Two completely different incidents.
anon
13th November 2018, 2:55
Vettel made the apex. Ocon didn’t make the apex at all.
Gerry
12th November 2018, 4:03
Just as I thought Vas was starting to become a mature driver, he goes back to his impetuous ways and ruins his race!
Matn
12th November 2018, 6:03
No person with the right mind would question Max driving this race, he once more prooved he can and will outrace them all if Honda can close the gap…. Max was not pickin’ a fight on track, he was racing his own race..when Ocon tried to pass him on the outside Max covered him like all drivers would cover a backmarker, he kept his line and kept the lead.
Ocon was not in front, had no right to the corner and they weren’t fighting for positions,never in all of F1 history any backmarker had made such a blund move on a raceleader…. never in near 70 years of racing.
Ocon and something to settle over his F3 grudge, missing out on seat than, missing ut on a seat next year, Ocon picked his moment of fame and made an historical dumb move.
Hamilton having an opinion is being Hamilton… he also had an opinion on Sirotkin, Hamilton is becoming sort of a cult leader… when he says things his fan will follow. Hamilton got beaten in another race by that same driver in a lesser car and played mindgames after, kning he will face Verstappen again next year…. It’s not like Hamilton didn’t pick his fights over this season (Bahrain, Monza), he just came out lucky, but took all the risks, Hamiltons second gifted win in one season (Baku, Brasil). Hamilton would have been respectfull speaking a few good words for the guy that beat him on track… though Hamilton chose to kick him while he was down. Pretending to be a gentleman, doesn’t make a person a gentleman.
Todfod (@todfod)
12th November 2018, 6:19
If you want to bash on Lewis, you’ll find any moment and just rant on about it. The truth is he gave good advice to Max and brought his perspective as a driver trying to unlap himself to give context. Lewis is under no obligation to tell Max when to give space and when not to, he’s just looking at the number of times Verstappen has done this over the course of this season itself, and gave him honest advice on this incident.
Whether Verstappen wants to take his advice, is up to him. Whether people wan’t to get offended by Lewis’ statements and bash him for it, is up to them.
ian dearing
12th November 2018, 10:24
Never in 70 years of racing? So Max’s old man in Brasil slipped your memory? But lets hope Max ignores Hamilton’s advice and prioritizes getting into unnecessary arguments with backmarkers over wins and WDCs.
OOliver
12th November 2018, 10:49
If Ocon had a grudge to settle, was Max not in a position to ignore?
This is the equivalent of a boxer leading on points, getting out of the ring mid round and going to fight in the parking lot.
You will win your boxing match and earn your reward by staying focused in the ring, you don’t win anything for your fight in the parking lot.
Of course I blame Ocon more, but I expected Max to ignore.
The only explanation is if Max claims he didn’t know he was there.
anon
12th November 2018, 13:46
Don’t forget the gifted win in Russia. He still owes Bottas one.
Patrick (@anunaki)
12th November 2018, 6:43
What a blabla. He would probably have let the biggest space ever for Ocon because the best crowd ever enlightened him….
But seriously… Max could’ve been more careful. But the real question is imho should he have expected Ocon not to lift there after his action failed? Or is is OK for Ocon to race in that particular situation? Well he wasn’t allowed to do that. That’s why he got such a strong penalty.
If you are leading a race you can expect drivers that are a lap down to show enough respect to lift if their action doesn’t stick. But not from Ocon apparently, because he has a “right” to unlap himself even if that means racing hard through corners with race leading cars.
And even if Max would’ve let him passed. He would get blue flags right away or destroy Max’s downforce backing him into Lewis. For what? For a right to unlap yourself?
Ocon got really lucky he wasn’t black flagged. Because as much I am against all the micro management penalties, THIS was a situation where though stewarding is a must. Imho of course
mystic one (@mysticus)
12th November 2018, 23:07
@anunaki lapped cars rule is if you are catching them, they have to let you through if you are within 1 sec.. but in this case, ocon was after max and he was asking confirmation for overtaking him or not bcoz max at that point was saving his tyres… he just tried to pick a fight with ocon for no reason other than satisfy his ego… raced for the corner, and lost the lead as a result as someone else said…
Patrick
12th November 2018, 8:21
Ocon received a Blue flag a give room to the driver that is lapping him.
https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2017/10/F1_Explained___Grand_Prix_racing_s_blue_flag_rules.html
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
12th November 2018, 13:09
Ocon never received a blue flag because he wasn’t actually been lapped by Verstappen.
Ocon had recently made a pit stop & was on the softer compound & pushing hard while Max was on a harder/older compound & managing his pace. These 2 things resulted in Ocon catching Max from behind for 1-2 laps & despite been a lap down Ocon was actually been held up by Max at this point in the race.
I think this is the problem with the replays & the way it was presented during the race, It doesn’t show what was actually happening in terms of where there respective pace was & what had led upto it. It wasn’t Max lapping Ocon & Ocon trying to get it back, It was Ocon catching Max & been faster looking to unlap himself & IMO it makes a big difference because the first case (Max lapping Ocon & Ocon immediately trying to get back past) would be incorrect but the second (Ocon been faster, Been held up for a lap or more & having the pace to unlap himself) is more acceptable & in that scenario I think it would have been smarter for Max to not fight it & let Ocon go in order that both lose no time & can get on with there races.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th November 2018, 9:57
Wrong, Ocon had no business or right to put himself into a position where a crash would be rather inevitable to happen anyway since he was a full lap down after having just gotten lapped. He should’ve backed off earlier, and thus, create distance to Max at T1 at the very latest if not on the long run down to that corner already.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
12th November 2018, 11:55
Hamilton. Guy I still dislike, but cannot remember why.
If Max learned a bit from Lewis, he would be even more potent. Seb should learn from Lewis aswell. If they cannot match his consistency, they will never be champions while he ranks up reliable results at roughly 1 mistake per year.
Max and Vettel have issues every second weekend.
Blazzz (@blazzz)
12th November 2018, 12:37
“Guy I still dislike, but cannot remember why.”
I find this rather amusing.
Rockgod (@rockgod)
13th November 2018, 0:06
At least he’s being honest :-)
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
12th November 2018, 13:28
Totally agree with Hamilton. Verstappen saw the pink car approaching and lost his mind, forgot that he was in a Grand Prix and thought he was in a one lap race with Ocon which he had to defend for his life. There was nothing to gain and everything to lose, yet for some reason he ran straight into someone he wasn’t racing, just to prove a point. Then made everything worse by getting violent later on. The kid has a lot to learn if he’s ever going to be a great racing driver. He is currently behaving like my 2 year old daughter, when she gets jealous that a kid is playing with a toy, then has a tantrum when she’s told she can’t have it.
Neil (@neilosjames)
12th November 2018, 13:44
Agreed.
Defending costs time. Two laps of defending against a car he wasn’t even racing would have cost Verstappen more time than just giving him the inside line into Turn 1.
anon
12th November 2018, 13:53
I’d love to know the reaction if Stroll came out on super-softs and crashed into race leader Hamilton while trying to make an unrealistic pass.
Ocon had another DRS zone coming up right away. If he was significantly faster he was going to breeze past at the upcoming DRS zone.
Forget that it’s Ocon. I know he came into F1 with credentials, but he was a backmarker in this race.
Replace Ocon with Stroll or Hartley, and replace Verstappen with Hamilton and we know who would be wearing the blame.
mystic one (@mysticus)
12th November 2018, 23:11
Ocon was significantly faster until Max started to speed up his ego… even tried to drive ocon wide by moving under braking… completely pointless moves and without any reasonable force to do so… but he did it anyway, and he lost the most
Christopher (@twiinzspeed)
12th November 2018, 16:09
IMO Ocon had a right to be there and to pass because he was faster the previous couple of laps. If lapped cars that are slower “must” give way to the leaders because of blue flags, the leaders should not be able to hold others up as well. Personally, I’d like to see blue flags go away completely. It’s a race. If you are faster , then pass the lapped car without them having to pull over to let you by. It certainly would spice things up a bit. I remember a Manaco race years back when Webber was heralded for holding up a faster car the whole race. Make em earn the position like everyone else. The midfield cars have these great battles almost every race to gain a second or two on a rival and then all a sudden they have to almost leave the track and stop to let the lead car through. Losing many seconds or a position in the process. The lower positions mean just as much to them and their team as the big guns, maybe even more.
#no blue flags :)
Merovinjyen (@merovinyen)
13th November 2018, 14:55
Yes it’s not hard to leave each other space.
I’ve also noticed that most drivers now just choose to let Max through and not race him.