How Verstappen’s collision with Russell helped him win the Las Vegas GP

22 comments on “How Verstappen’s collision with Russell helped him win the Las Vegas GP”

1. 

   Michael (@freelittlebirds)
   19th November 2023, 18:45

   That was a divebomb – he should have lost the race there but there are no stewards (or at least impartial ones)…
   1. 

      NM
      19th November 2023, 19:13

      Russel himself admitted it was fully his fault.
      1. 

         Michael (@freelittlebirds)
         19th November 2023, 22:03

         How does that matter and why would Russell do that?

         Max is overtaking and he needed to make a clean pass – it’s obvious that he didn’t. You don’t push the other car off track to make an overtake in a corner where there’s only room for 1 car.

         I found all of Russell’s comments extremely strange.
      2. 

         melanos
         19th November 2023, 22:47

         What does George Russell know, when we have the world’s topmost Maxfaultology expert here?

         Somehow Max is also guilty of Carlos’ practice accident with the valve cover. But those clown-stewards failed to see it.

         And of course the 1955 Le Mans disaster was also Max’s fault. And the Chernobyl incident, the Middle East crisis beginning with the 1948 Naqba, and the Great Cambric extinction. But only our prescient Maxfaultologist can see it, oh so blindingly clear.
      3. 

         Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
         19th November 2023, 23:30

         How much of that was because he didn’t want to argue with the stewards about something he couldn’t change?
         1. 

            Red Andy (@red-andy)
            20th November 2023, 7:20

            Mercedes are, of course, well known for quietly accepting decisions from race control that go against them.
   2. 

      George.be
      19th November 2023, 21:45

      Are you talking about the start? That was naughty, but not dangerous, so the 5 seconds is correct. I think Max should’ve returned the position though, because he forced Charles off. (Max kept it marginally on track with one front tire.
      But I guess your comment is on the George-Max incident. Sure it was a divebomb, but well executed, and to be expected, so George is at fault… I would’ve gone for “race-incident” with no-one penalties for George though.
   3. 

      F1 Fan
      19th November 2023, 22:51

      The hype is making you cope every weekend. It’s excellent to watch.
   4. 

      J3d89
      20th November 2023, 2:43

      Honest question, what’s your opinion on Silverstone 2021?
      1. 

         baasbas
         21st November 2023, 17:01

         @J3d89
         Don’t go there. I mean it. Weeks ago I made the mistake of trying to enter in a discussion with him. It ended with him saying Verstappen should have d1ed in that incident for what he did, not once but twice in one post. To me that is beyond everything. In my book that is hate speech and should result in a permanent ban. It didn’t, only some sentences from his post were modded away. He honestly believes Verstappen steered into Hamilton and he did it on purpose as well. It’s better to ignore certain people around here
   5. 

      MattDS (@mattds)
      20th November 2023, 8:37

      @freelittlebirds that was not a dive bomb. Watch Max’s onboard: he was alongside for about 4 seconds. Russell had ample time to realize Max was there, didn’t look, turned in as if Max wasn’t there. Max targeted and held the apex just fine, which is his responsibility to make a clean pass.

      You can’t just state the onus is on the passing driver to make a clean pass and imply any and all damage happening is the fault of the passing driver. The latter one can be at fault just as well – which was the case here.
   6. 

      G
      20th November 2023, 11:20

      @freelittlebirds
      It going to be even harder to take you seriously after that statement.
      You are at the point of trying to defend a Mercedes driver even after they have admitted fault on a few occasions now.
   7. 

      Giang Nguyen
      20th November 2023, 13:35

      Yes, and when Schumacher turned in on Villeneuve in Jerez 1997 it was also Villeneuves fault ;)
2. 

   frood19 (@frood19)
   19th November 2023, 19:03

   Ferrari clearly learned nothing from Silverstone last year – at a track where passing is straightforward it makes sense to give up track position to ensure being on the right tyre. We’ve seen it plenty of times over the years. As soon as he didn’t pit and everyone else did, it was pretty clear the win had gone. I don’t even think you can call it bad luck – it’s a street circuit and this is F1 in 2023, there are almost guaranteed safety cars at the drop of a hat – so the team must have strategised this.
   1. 

      roadrunner (@roadrunner)
      19th November 2023, 22:11

      But what could they have done? They had just switched to new hard tires that were just 5 laps old when the safety car came out. They were perfectly fine until the end of the race as Leclerc was able to repass perez (twice) and set his fastest lap at the very end. It wouldn’t have changed anything if they’d gone for a new set except that they would have lost track position. It was only Verstappen’s pace on hards that made all the difference.
      1. 

         melanos
         19th November 2023, 22:51

         Yeah, I disagree too, they were just unlucky having pitted for hards only a few laps before. Giving up position for a very minor difference in tyre age which would surely have made no differene in the end was not such a great option.
      2. 

         MacLeod (@macleod)
         20th November 2023, 8:04

         Charles told his tyres were spend (his rears) as you saw onboard he had problems putting the power through his rears. Also it was very hard to keep his hards on temperature while the new hards had not that problem so much. Sainz pitted also for new hards but we will never know what would happen if Charles pitted for new hards but he would have the tyre to respond beter on attacks.
      3. 

         MattDS (@mattds)
         20th November 2023, 8:45

         @roadrunner

         But what could they have done? They had just switched to new hard tires that were just 5 laps old when the safety car came out. They were perfectly fine until the end of the race as Leclerc was able to repass perez (twice) and set his fastest lap at the very end. It wouldn’t have changed anything if they’d gone for a new set except that they would have lost track position.

         Charles on fresh tyres would have been P2 behind Checo at the restart. He would have made quick work of Checo and probably made a bit of a gap. Sure Max would have probably still caught up, and I’m not saying Max wouldn’t have won, but at least Charles would have had more of a fighting chance.

         The fact that his tyres went to the end and he set his fastest lap at the end doesn’t really negate this point: with 5 laps newer tyres, this fastest lap would have been faster :)

         Either way, the choice for track position over tyres is only really valid on a track where you can’t overtake. That was not the case here.
      4. 

         MG1982 (@mg1982)
         20th November 2023, 16:45

         +1
3. 

   DonSalsa
   20th November 2023, 7:18

   Yup, 100% got lucky with the 2nd SC. The Ferrari was surprisingly good on its tyres and there was no way Max on 5-lap older tyres would have caught and passed the Leclerc. And in fact there was a chance he might have had to pit again given that quite a few drivers that went long on the hards were struggling at the end!
   So yes, he was extremely lucky or given that he played a part in the deployment of the SC, one could say he made his own luck!!!
4. 

   Craig
   20th November 2023, 9:00

   I’m still not convinced the safety car was needed to clear that debris, should have been a VSC.
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      20th November 2023, 9:14

      I had a similar thought. Previously we were able to ask the race director about decisions like that (and did) but the FIA stopped arranging post-race media sessions with them in late 2021.

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