Ricciardo triumphant but Verstappen sparks anger
THE great and good of Formula One have rounded on Max Verstappen after the Dutchman’s banzai driving took centre stage again following a dramatic Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite Daniel Ricciardo pulling off a Red Bull tactical masterstroke to secure a quite remarkable win, it was the aggressive tactics deployed by his hot-headed team-mate which dominated the paddock discourse for a second weekend in succession.
Seven days ago in Bahrain, Verstappen collided with Lewis Hamilton, but in Shanghai, it was the Brit’s championship rival Sebastian Vettel who would feel the full force of the brilliant, yet exuberant Dutchman.
Hamilton escaped without damage to his Mercedes car last week, but the same could not be said for Vettel and his Ferrari here.
The German, who was second at the time of their coming together — during a frenetic finale sparked by the deployment of a safety car — limped over the line in eighth.
It enabledd Hamilton, himself fortunateunate to finish fourthh after a self-proclaimedmed disastrous weekend, to reduce t he g a p i n t he drivers’ championship from 17 to only ninee points.
Verstappen a n d R i c c i a rr dd oo ( above) had carved their way too the top after an inspiredired gamble by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to haul both of his drivers in for fresh tyres after Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly tangled and the safety car was sent out.
It provided both men with the advantage of quicker, fresher tyres than their rivals, but as Ricciardo excelled in picking off Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in an overtaking masterclass, Verstappen faltered.
He ran off the road following an ambitious move round the outside of Hamilton at the high-speed turn seven. And — although he got the Brit one lap later — hhis hairpin lunge on Vettel wa s d e s p e r - ateate. Late on ththe brakes, he thudded into the Ferrari and sent them bboth into a spspin.
“I d o n’ t neeneed t o say anythanything here,” said VeVettel on the radio as hhe pointed the blame at VVerstappen. The stewards agreed hitting the Red Bull driver with a 10-second penalty which would demote him to fifth.
“It was completely Max’s fault,” said Niki Lauda, Mercedes’ non- executive chairman and three-time world champion.
“When you compete in more races you should get more clever — especially when you want to win or challenge for the championship — but he is going the other way. He needs to sort himself out. Nobody can help him.”
Verstappen may be only 20, but he has started 63 grands prix and is a three-time winner. This is his fourth season. “He is not young,” Lauda added. “He is old in Formula One now so he is like everybody else. It is not necessary because it hurts him as well.”
Australia’s Ricciardo, eight y e a r s ’ Ve r s t a p p e n’s s e ni o r, showed far greater maturity than his team-mate, with bold moves on Hamilton and then Bottas, but moves that were executed with millimetre precision.
Verstappen apologised to Vettel in the immediate aftermath of another spellbinding instalment of this new, unpredictable season, but it may yet be an incident which could prove costly in the Ferrari driver’s pursuit of a fifth world championship.
“In that situation he has to change his style otherwise it will happen again,” Vettel warned. “I said to him afterwards ‘ look, the race is long and you threw your podium away’.
“It is not a question of age because he has done so many races now. I gave him room, I wasn’t planning on resisting, but he had a big lock-up and that is when we crashed. We are not happy because we had the car to win.”
Hamilton cast a downbeat Final Positions after Chinese Grand Prix (56 Laps): 1 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1hr 35mins 36.380secs, 2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:35:45.274, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:35:46.017, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP
1: 35:53.365, 5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:35:56.816, 6 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:35:57.432, 7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:36:07.019, 8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:36:11.666, 9 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault
1: 36:11.666, 10 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:36:15.974, 11 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:36:20.430, 12 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:36:21.105, 13 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:36:25.753, 14 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:36:31.870, 15 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:36:34.621, 16 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:36:38.984, 17 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:36:41.676, 18 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36:42.710, 19 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:36:58.955, 20 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 5 laps
figure in the Mercedes hospitality suite as he faced up to another disappointing weekend, but he can take comfort from Verstappen’s wild ways Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo 1min 35.785secs on lap 55
World Championship Standings Drivers: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 54pts, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 45, 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 40, 4 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 37, 5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 30, 6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 22, 7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 22, 8 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 18, 9 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 12, 10 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 11, 11 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 6, 12 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 3, 13 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 2, 14 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1, 15 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 0, 16 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 0, 17 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 0, 18 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 0, 19 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 0, 20 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0 Manufacturers: 1 Mercedes GP 85pts, 2 Ferrari 84, 3 Red Bull 55, 4 McLaren 28, 5 Renault 25, 6 Scuderia Toro Rosso 12, 7 Haas F1 11, 8 Sauber-Ferrari 2.
limiting the title damage. “I am thankful for the way he drives because i t meant we did not lose too many points,” Hamilton (33) said with a smile.