2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, Dec 03 - 05

[Jolle]

Dirty driving? How?

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

[jz11]

Reminder to self: if HAM and VER are close on track and both trying for the corner(s), stay away from race thread because it explodes with HAM biased fans. I am not saying Max didnt do anything wrong. But to say HAM was only the victim... thats not how racing works. This is racing.
I'll stay away from the race thread and leave it to it.

Why today?
The nice thing is that everyone is right today.
Those who claim Max ist faster than Lewis are right. The Q lap of Lewis was just a safety lap, Max was stellar. No idea where he took that (part) lap from.
Those who claim that Lewis is the better driver are of course also right. Because he did not crash the car in Q and managed to stay clear of Max in the race (ok partially).
Those who say Max ia driving dirty, of course...
Those who say Lewis is driving dirty as well...yes, of course...
Lucky Lewis...I have no idea how the front wing can survive and the car is ready to do fastest laps with this front wing...for any other driver it would have ended in the wall with the front wing under the car after touching Ocon already.
Unlucky Lewis...the red flag, of course.

It might be really a week of harmony

you forgot Lucky Max, that rearending could have easily ended up being a puncture and/or DNF, with Lewis of course ending up bagging another 25:0, because #blessed

[mzivtins]

Dirty driving? How?

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

Totally agree.

I feel it doesn't need a penalty though, just confirmation that what was done was very wrong, but given mitigating factors its a bad racing incident at worst, just to stop a penalty deciding the championship I think is very important

[214270]

VERs telemetry isn’t pretty. I wonder how he’s gonna explain it.

[Big Tea]

Dirty driving? How?

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

I don't see it as 'dirty', but Max always looks for an edge. Not a bad trait, but maybe somewhat overdriven.
Once he has a couple of titles under his belt he will mellow and be an even better driver

[Mogster]

Dirty driving? How?

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

Why did Max slow, move right then move back to the middle of the track? If you genuinely wanted to comply you’d stay right then there’s no confusion.

I do think Lewis probably had another VSC in his mind.

[djones]

The onboard from Max shows erratic movements, but also potentially a stamp on the brakes which can be heard in the audio.

The telemetry shows a stamp on the brakes right before impact.

Only another Brazil style cover-up will stop this being a grid drop at the next race.

[TwanV]

Dirty driving? How?

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

Trying to agree with you but no. i would say max moves to the inside before the corner because very strangely Hamilton is not overtaking ; a bit unfortunate that Lewis decides to do the same at the same time ; accident? but not dangerous as there is definitely no overspeed.

[Big Tea]

The onboard from Max shows erratic movements, but also potentially a stamp on the brakes which can be heard in the audio.

The telemetry shows a stamp on the brakes right before impact.

Only another Brazil style cover-up will stop this being a grid drop at the next race.

I usually prefer fairness, but do we really want a grid drop for one of the drivers?
This is what we have been asking for. Head to head winner take all.
Cant wait for next week, forget what the team principles say, this is man v man (and teams of course)

[ArcticWolfie]

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

Why did Max slow, move right then move back to the middle of the track? If you genuinely wanted to comply you’d stay right then there’s no confusion.

I do think Lewis probably had another VSC in his mind.

So it's Hamilton's fault after all

[Jolle]

Love how max even threw off the helicam tracking hahaha

It’s quite clear here that Verstappen slows down, then slows down even more and moves to the middle of the track. Not intentionally to cause a collision but very dangerous driving.

Why did Max slow, move right then move back to the middle of the track? If you genuinely wanted to comply you’d stay right then there’s no confusion.

I do think Lewis probably had another VSC in his mind.

Could have been a VSC, could have been a broken gearbox (and a desperate “elbow out” attempt to stay ahead”

It’s not a place that comes to mind to swap places, you do that at the entry of turn one.

[djones]

The onboard from Max shows erratic movements, but also potentially a stamp on the brakes which can be heard in the audio.

The telemetry shows a stamp on the brakes right before impact.

Only another Brazil style cover-up will stop this being a grid drop at the next race.

I usually prefer fairness, but do we really want a grid drop for one of the drivers?
This is what we have been asking for. Head to head winner take all.
Cant wait for next week, forget what the team principles say, this is man v man (and teams of course)

I think one of the big problems here (and the reason there needs to be punishment) is the dodgy moves and things like Brazil are an intent to cause a DNF.

Max (or any driver) should not be allowed to do this kind of thing, especially when a DNF is a net win for him.

[McL-H]

I feel it doesn't need a penalty though, just confirmation that what was done was very wrong, but given mitigating factors its a bad racing incident at worst, just to stop a penalty deciding the championship I think is very important

I would love to see this title fight decided in Abu Dhabi and would hate it for penalties or mechanical problems to get in the way of that. But as a sport, entertainment value should not be taken into account when enforcing the rule book. Max has just been taking every chance he had to take out Lewis, ever since Silverstone. Because he knows that as long as Lewis does not finish or finishes behind, he remains in the lead of the championship. Due to this we have seen them crash in Monza. He tried to take him out in Brazil and he tried to take him out numerous times today. Point is, the Monza penalty was a joke. In Brazil he did not get penalised at all. Not enforcing the rules has lead us to the driving we saw today.

In sake of the image, safety and integrity of the sport, the FIA should disregard entertainment value and punish what needs to be punished, or what we’ve seen today will become the norm.

I honestly don’t care who wins of either two. I don’t care if they try and search up the boundaries a bit. But in essence, it should be fair racing and the FIA’s job is to ensure that.

[mzivtins]

The onboard from Max shows erratic movements, but also potentially a stamp on the brakes which can be heard in the audio.

The telemetry shows a stamp on the brakes right before impact.

Only another Brazil style cover-up will stop this being a grid drop at the next race.

Can we have a picture link to the telemetry?

In my mind atm it's a non penalty incident with max more too blame, but a sharp braking manoeuvre like that would change my opinion to be a penalty needed incident... Of course change my opinions based on what facts we see...

[Starkblood80]

The onboard from Max shows erratic movements, but also potentially a stamp on the brakes which can be heard in the audio.

The telemetry shows a stamp on the brakes right before impact.

Only another Brazil style cover-up will stop this being a grid drop at the next race.

Where have you seen the telemetry?