ON THE ROPES
Lewis fears for world title despite getting helping hand from mad Max
THE madness, badness and brashness of Max Verstappen was on display as he planted himself on the outside of Turn 7.
Lewis Hamilton was inside him. The Briton held his line. Verstappen veered off track at a place impossible to pass. And so Hamilton escaped from a close encounter with a wrecking ball of a Red Bull, and consequently his title deficit was reduced to just nine points.
But behind that pleasing surface — during a race won by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo — fourth-placed Hamilton spelled out his fears for the season. ‘It is clear from this weekend that we are not the quickest,’ he said.
‘We’ve lost performance since the first race in Melbourne. We’re second/third fastest so we’ve got some improving to do. It’s not impossible.’
Hamilton’s prospects were dramatically helped when Sebastian Vettel was caught in Verstappen’s claws moments after his own reprieve. The spin earned the Dutchman a 10- second penalty and condemned Vettel, the championship leader, to limping home in eighth place.
It was a thrilling passage of racing — as good as any during the current Formula One era — not least when we factor in Ricciardo’s surge of surgical precision from sixth to first to capitalise on a bravura strategy call by his Red Bull team. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was second and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen third.
But when the noise had vanished, Verstappen’s name was on every lip. The question was whether he could tame the wildness that is his blessing and occasional curse.
Vettel was angry as he spun, understandably, and lamented: ‘I don’t need to say anything,’ meaning that Verstappen’s foolhardiness was so apparent that there was no need to point the finger. But, credit to Verstappen, he was straight round to say sorry to the German face-to-face the moment the race was over.
Vettel accepted the gesture immediately. Their off- track behaviour did them both credit. But, without rancour, Vettel added: ‘I told him he cost himself points. He accepted that.’
Vettel was then reminded that Verstappen had promised never to compromise his style.
‘In that situation he has to change, otherwise it happens again,’ came Vettel’s advice back.
Verstappen, who was classified fifth, is a brave and natural racer, but suffering at the moment from over- stretching. His boss Christian Horner spoke to him afterwards, later telling the press that he was confident his 20-year-old thruster had learned an important lesson.
But along the paddock at Mercedes came the harsher verdict of a legend who wears the battle scars of this dangerous game, Niki Lauda, chairman of Mercedes. He did not accept that Verstappen is young, whatever his birth certificate might state. He countered that in racing terms — amounting to 63 starts since his debut as a 17-year-old manchild in 2015 — Verstappen has been around long enough to have developed greater control of his impulses.
‘When you race longer, you usually get cleverer,’ said Lauda. ‘He is going the other way. He needs to sort himself out. Nobody can help him.’
Hamilton was turning his gaze upon himself, but also on his team, whose strategy he questioned. In fact, he was complaining on the grid about his lot. His chin seemed to drop as early as that. He was beaten off the line, slipping a place to fifth, and then struggled for any sort of rhythm.
And when he saw the Red Bulls had been re- shod on decisively fresher, faster rubber, he made his feelings clear in a series of radio moans. ‘Have I got a bunch of cars behind me with new tyres?’ he asked, insisting that he should also have made the switch.
Lauda explained later that he was not sure if such a ploy would have worked for Hamilton. It may have, perhaps, but it was certainly not a blatant Mercedes strategy error. Their baffling lack of pace was the problem.
What is up with Hamilton? He looked drained, his eyes dulled and tired, as he spoke afterwards. By his own admission, he was going fine in practice on Friday, and then on Saturday ‘the car kind of turned upside down’. How quickly things change.
Hamilton will be back in the factory in Brackley this week to seek answers and offer solutions before the circus moves to Azerbaijan in a fortnight’s time. He has an almighty fight on his hands.
But he was the one, at least, who could smile and say: ‘I am thankful for the way Max drives for not losing me too many points today.’