Verstappen sees fickle side of Formula One
montmelo — A year can be a long time in Formula One.
Max Verstappen learned just how fickle fortune can be on Sunday when he crashed out on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix.
A year ago, Max Verstappen made history on the very same track, when he sped away to victory to become the youngest race winner at the age of 18.
In taking that momentous win, the Dutch teenager benefited from a crash between race favorites Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg when their dueling Mercedes collided just
sometimes you have a bit of luck, like last year, sometimes you don’t as we can see this year Max Verstappen
three turns after the start.
Despite not winning a race since, Verstappen came very close last year with four more runnerup finishes.
So he arrived back on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with high hopes to repeat his victory, especially given that his Red Bull team had spent the previous two weeks introducing upgrades to try and close the gap on title favorites Mercedes and Ferrari.
“Sometimes you have a bit of luck, like last year, sometimes you don’t as we can see this year,” Verstappen said. “It was shame to not be able to take part in the race after the incident as I think with this weekend’s upgrades it could have been fun and we could have got a good result.”
But the game of inches played at blistering speed turned against him this time. Verstappen’s race was over just seconds after it began when his car was on the receiving end of a knock between Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
With the trio starting just behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and F1 leader Sebastian Vettel on the grid, they all immediately jousted for position and entered the first turn side-by-side.
Bottas’ slight nudge of Raikkonen caused a chain-reaction, sending Raikkonen into Verstappen. —