Precocious Max still has a lot to learn

IT was an interesting little vignette on a day of high drama and no little controversy.

In the cool-down room prior to the podium celebrations the drivers sit and chat and hydrate after their day’s work. On this occasion, prompted by a question from Kimi Räikkönen, Max Verstappen was laying out his case.

He laid the blame for his clash with Esteban Ocon, which denied him a near certain victory in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, squarely at the feet of the French man and, to a very large extent, he was right.

Ocon had very little business dicing with the leader of the race given that he was a lapped driver. That said Ocon was entitled to unlap himself – he just attempted to do so in a sloppy and cack-handed fashion – as Lewis Hamilton was quick to remind his young rival.

“I know,” Verstappen quickly countered (in his best Vicky Pollard impression) attempting to once more turn attentions back to Ocon’s part in their clash. Hamilton, however, wasn’t buying what Verstappen was selling.

“He had nothing to lose, you had everything to lose,” he reminded Verstappen with a knowing shrug.

Racing drivers have a well-earned reputation for selfishness – note both Ocon’s and Verstappen’s behaviour which escalated into a pushing match in the weigh-room immediately after the race – but what Hamilton did was actually pretty selfless.

Whether Verstappen realised it or not – and he probably didn’t, not right away anyway – Hamilton was teaching him a lesson, giving him something that will make him a better driver, something that will make him better equipped to take on Hamilton in the years ahead.

That’s not something you see everyday.