Festival of Error at Red Bull
Losing just eight points to Lando Norris in the Drivers’ standings is a real bargain for Max Verstappen at the end of a race where nothing worked for Red Bull except the solidity of the RB20 which managed not to suffer critical damage from a quasi-take-off after the contact between Verstappen and Hamilton in Turn 1. Sebastian Vettel in Brazil in 2012 was able to benefit from the ‘tank’ Red Bull to win the title and if in Abu Dhabi Verstappen were to win by about ten points then what happened today in Budapest will be remembered with a smile.
There were very few smiles at Red Bull today and it couldn’t have been otherwise. Max Verstappen made some rather harsh statements on the Milton Keynes team’s wall on the radio and in the post-race, the same wall that two years ago had ‘driven’ the Dutchman in an unforgettable comeback from the back of the pack to the top step of the podium. The concept ‘we all win together and we all lose together’ is not very high up in Verstappen’s personal philosophy. For the Dutchman, the only credo is “I give my best and try to provide excellent performances and I expect those who work with me to do the same”. Today during the race some shots of the Red Bull strategist Hannah Schmitz they highlighted how she was aware, first of all, that she had not set up an effective strategy.
Verstappen didn’t like at all the fact that he suffered two undercuts and basically lost too much time stuck in traffic. What Red Bull is usually master at – pit stops always at the right time and always to attack, never to defend – was totally lacking today and put Verstappen in even more difficulty given that the RB20 didn’t have a great margin over Mercedes and Ferrari. When Lambiase tried to ‘sew up’ and ‘launch’ Verstappen’s final stint in a comeback with fresher medium tyres than Leclerc’s and Hamilton’s hards, Verstappen responded badly to his race engineer. “Today I have to save myself after the terrible strategy you have set up”the – very – sweetened words of Verstappen. “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. – he said in the post-race as reported by racingnews365 – they can’t tell me this nonsense after what they’ve done. The strategists maybe weren’t there today. They have all the data available. Maybe I should have them put in the car (the data) so I can make the strategy myself”.
The Dutch driver still held on to fifth place because the Stewards decided that the maneuver on Hamilton that could have cost both of them retirement was not to be penalized. Before the ruling on the Stewards’ actions, Verstappen had said: “It’s like going to the casino, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.“. Today the Dutchman ‘won’.
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